Best WordPress Maintenance and Management Services

Make no mistake: Running a website is hard.

There are so many areas to focus on, from content creation to admin, to maintaining a site via updates. This is to say nothing of security—you (and your visitors) really don’t want your site hacked.

The good news is that WordPress maintenance services can take a load off users’ shoulders, keeping their sites up to date and allowing them to spend their time elsewhere.

These services offer support and can help with website downtime, theme modifications, site backups, and more.

I’ve put together a list of the best WordPress maintenance and management services to help you get started.

#1 – WP Buffs Review — The Best for Site Security

WP Buffs, great for site security, is an excellent WordPress management service.

WP Buffs is a top maintenance service for those who want full confidence in their site’s security. When users purchase the service, they’ll be able to use the iThemes Security plugin—considered to be one of the best security plugins available.

The plugin exists to protect a site from nasty malware and spam, but it’s also useful for its cache feature that improves the loading speed of a site—something crucially important for good rankings.

Users also have the option to back up their entire site with WP Buffs and store it in the cloud for extra peace of mind.

Other key features of WP Buffs include:

  • 24/7 site edits
  • Speed optimization
  • Ongoing security
  • Weekly updates
  • Emergency 24/7 support

On the pricing front, WP Buffs offers multiple plans. The key ones are Maintain, Protect, Perform, and then there are a series of custom plans for those with advanced needs.

Itemized, these are:

  • Maintain / Annual or monthly / $66 a month when billed yearly
  • Protect / Annual or monthly / $133 a month when billed yearly
  • Perform / Annual or monthly / $183 a month when billed yearly
  • Custom / Annual or monthly / $290 a month when billed yearly
  • Custom Pro / Annual or monthly / $373 a month when billed yearly

The iThemes Security Pro premium plugin is included from the second package onward or the Protect tier in this case. The third level of pricing, Perform, includes four daily cloud backups, priority support, and complete malware removal.

Learn more and get started at WP Buffs.

#2 – GoWP Review — The Best for Agencies

Use the WordPress management service, GoWP, if you work at an agency or are a web developer.

GoWP is an ideal WordPress maintenance service for agencies and web developers. Whether you want to expand your team or outsource more of your services, GoWP can completely support you.

It positions itself as a white-label service, which allows an agency to layer its own branding and SOPs on top of the maintenance services GoWP provides as if those services are now part of the agency’s own back end. 

The white-label focus allows GoWP to create a dedicated mailbox using a domain, provide help and support to all requests to that email, and share a white-labeled dashboard with clients.

On top of that, you have WordPress plugin updates, security monitoring, and automatic site backups with 90 days of offsite storage.

Other powerful features of GoWP include:

  • Unlimited content edits
  • Dedicated account manager (premium)
  • Dedicated WordPress developer (premium)
  • Daily security scans and malware cleanup
  • White-label help desk

GoWP has these main tiers of pricing:

  • Maintenance / $29 monthly per site       
  • Content edits / $79 monthly per site       
  • Landing page builds / $1,299 monthly
  • Dedicated developer, copywriter, virtual assistant, or designer services / Starting at $1,099 monthly

The second tier gives agencies access to a 24/7 team of experts, a support ticket dashboard, and Visual Validator WordPress updates.

The next tier jumps up in price but does provide you with a dedicated WordPress developer for it. Learn more at GoWP.

#3 – FixRunner Review — The Best for Tech Support

Use FixRunner for tech support when considering a WordPress management service.

FixRunner is a great choice for dedicated tech support.

The service features monthly support time from 90 minutes to four hours—this does depend on the plan you opt for—and additional help is available if you need it.

You’ll be able to use this support time to make all sorts of tweaks to a site, including full debugs, performance improvements, and more.

I was particularly impressed with FixRunner’s 30-day satisfaction guarantee that offers a full refund, no questions asked if you’re unhappy with the service.

FixRunner also offers:

  • Speed optimization
  • WordPress core updates
  • Plug-in and theme updates
  • Uptime monitoring
  • Security scans

The service provides plans for both small websites and bigger, enterprise-level ones. There are three core plans available for smaller websites:

  • Premium / Monthly, quarterly, or yearly / $69 monthly
  • Rocket / Monthly, quarterly, or yearly / $99 monthly
  • Advance / Monthly, quarterly, or yearly / $179 monthly

If you sign up for a full year, the price drops considerably. For example, the Premium plan drops to $49 per month.

For bigger websites or Enterprise-level business, we have the following:

  • Advance + / Monthly or quarterly / $300 monthly
  • Advance ++ / Monthly or quarterly / $500 monthly
  • Custom / Monthly or quarterly / Call for price

If you run a smaller website, I think the Rocket package is a good starting point—it includes support for online shops, on-page SEO optimization, and a faster response time for sites, making it a notable offering all around.

#4 – Valet Review — The Best for Ecommerce Store Owners

Valet is a fantastic WordPress management service for those who run ecommerce stores.

Valet should be a top pick for those that run ecommerce stores.

It’s a comprehensive service that provides manual updates and includes uptime monitoring, security scanning, and full examinations of checkout workflows, all of which help ensure everything is running smoothly for your customers.

Some of the other highlights include:

  • Code checks
  • Reports and analysis
  • Remediation for website accessibility
  • Up to five hours of dedicated support per month

The first paid plan with Valet starts at $300 per month and includes two hours of support.

should check out the professional plan that costs $750 a month but includes five hours of dedicated support every month.

The top-tier plan with Valet is the Elite Plan that offers over ten hours of support each month, and this is quite clearly catered towards large companies that have the extra funding available.

General consultations with Valet are available and cost $175 per month.

#5 – SiteCare Review — The Best for Performance Optimization

SiteCare is a great WordPress management service to optimize your website performance.

SiteCare is the best option on my list for site performance optimization. If you want a service that will optimize a site so it loads as quickly as possible, this is your top choice.

SiteCare gets to work by first looking at aspects of a site that could be causing it to slow down. This can be due to anything from poorly optimized images to faulty plugins or a web host’s quality.

Once that’s done, the service implements a series of best practices, removing the website’s weaknesses step by step until it’s responsive and efficient.

SiteCare offers the following to those that use the service:

  • Hack cleanups
  • Daily backups
  • Real-time monitoring
  • Theme and plugin updates
  • Mobile optimization

In terms of pricing, things are clear and simple. There are four key plans available:

  • Standard (annual plan only) / $82.50 per month
  • SiteCare Plus / $299 per month
  • SiteCare Pro / $499 per month
  • SiteCare Premier / $1,200 per month

The Standard plan includes access to the essentials, such as daily backups, malware cleanup, and access to support.

The more advanced plans are quite a jump, but for that, you get access to custom development hours with a specialist and a few extras such as ecommerce support and Sucuri firewall.

#6 – The WP Butler Review — The Best for Custom Plans

If you're looking for a custom WordPress management service, then choose The WP Butler.

Only want specific parts of a service? Well, The WP Butler is unique because it allows users to customize their service plan.

For example, maybe you’re just looking for caching and speed improvements but don’t require anything else.

Monthly services with The WP Butler include malware scans, daily or weekly backups, and plugin or theme updates.

The itemized one-off service includes everything from configuring HTTPS to a custom security inspection.

Additional features of The WP Butler include:

  • Weekly site reviews
  • Uptime monitoring
  • 30 minutes of development time on retainer
  • Emergency site restoration
  • Security plugin configuration

As there are quite a few options with The WP Butler, pricing varies significantly depending on what you need.

If the monthly packages are more suited to you, these come in the following tiers:

  • The Basics / $39 a month
  • The Solopreneur / $69 a month
  • The Small Business / $129 a month
  • The Company / $299 a month
  • The Enterprise / $599 a month

One-off services range from $100 to $250, and there’s even the option of a monthly retainer. With this, you pay for a set number of hours of development work each month. Lots to choose from here.

#7 – Emily Journey & Associates Review — The Best for Site Development

Emily Journey & Associates is a great WordPress management service for website development.

Don’t you want WordPress experts building your WordPress site? Then Emily Journey & Associates is who you need to call. This women-owned and led company is an excellent choice for website maintenance services if you want direct access to a dedicated website manager.

Founded in 2012 by Emily Journey, the EJ&A team has developed a reputation for its high standard of professionalism.

Companies choose Emily Journey & Associates for their consultative approach and depth of experience with the WordPress platform.

EJ&A clients can count on:

  • Direct communication with their website manager
  • A 24-hour response time during the workweek
  • Options for WordPress training
  • A strong focus on SEO

In terms of pricing, Emily Journey & Associates is among the higher-priced agencies for website maintenance services.

Their service package options are as follows:

  • Basic Website Maintenance / $199 per month billed monthly
  • Premium Website Maintenance / $450 per month billed monthly
  • Custom Website Maintenance / Pricing varies

The website managers at EJ&A are also WordPress instructors. If you’re looking for responsive website service, they’ll do the work for you or even teach you through an informative training course. This is a valuable plus when you want to understand the capabilities and limits of your website.

What I Looked at To Find the Best WordPress Maintenance and Management Services

There are two primary ways that people outsource the maintenance and management of WordPress.

One is to pay for a managed WordPress hosting plan, which means the provider takes over a lot of the technical legwork that goes into running WordPress sites. They also provide premium customer support that goes above and beyond what you usually get with web hosting.

Companies like WP Engine, Bluehost, SiteGround, and WordPress.com (not WordPress.org) all offer managed WordPress hosting plans. These can be a great way to offload your site maintenance responsibilities, though you have to pay more than you do for “unmanaged” hosting.

Not every web host offers a managed WordPress option, though, so your other option is to use a WordPress maintenance and management service.

You really want to find a single service that covers all the WordPress responsibilities you want outsourced. There’s no sense in getting more than one, which would be confusing for everyone.

Here are the core areas you need to consider.

Security Monitoring

It goes without saying how important security is for a site in the internet age. With the increase in threats and cyberattacks, knowing someone has got your back can bring great comfort.

Most of the maintenance services on this list include top security monitoring as part of their monthly packages, although not every service will.

Some, for example, might include security monitoring as an optional extra. If that’s the case, I say it’s worth the add-on cost. At the very least, get a WordPress security plugin to cover

How essential this is depends on the size of a company, but in most cases, monitoring a site for threats and knowing what to do if attacked is key. A maintenance service removes a great deal of worry here, so I think it’s a vital area to consider.

Site Optimization

Site optimization is a broad term, but in the case of WordPress maintenance and management services, I’m mainly talking about making a site more responsive and quicker to load.

A slow website can lead to people leaving sites rapidly in today’s fast-paced world, not to mention that Google actively penalizes slower websites by pushing them down in the search results.

A WordPress maintenance service can optimize a site to load quickly, making it responsive and pleasurable to use. This is important for every single site on the internet.

Almost all the WordPress maintenance services on this list include site optimization in some form, though the exact service carried out can vary.

Backups

A site that’s a victim of a cyberattack could find itself damaged and beyond repair—that’s where site backups come in. These allow users to restore a healthy and fully working version of said site.

In fact, it might not be a cyberattack, mistakes that delete files or whole databases can happen, sometimes inexplicably.

Having a maintenance service ready and waiting to install a healthy backup of a site if something goes wrong is beyond useful. It removes a lot of the stress from potentially losing everything.

Companies of most sizes will find this a vital feature, although site backups are easy enough to do if you’re an informed solopreneur—in the case of the latter, they might not need this particular service.

Frequently Asked Questions

How to put WordPress into maintenance mode?

Create a maintenance page (.maintenance file) for your blog to inform readers when it is being updated or to create a coming soon page for a new website. The front end of the blog is fully accessible to users with admin credentials. When the plugin is activated, your blog enters maintenance mode, is operational, and only authorized users can access the front end.

What is the best WordPress maintenance service for agencies?

The list of WordPress maintenance services I recommend to agencies are:

  • GoWP 
  • WP Buffs 
  • FixRunner 
  • Valet 
  • WP Site Care 
  • The WP Butler 
  • Emily Journey & Associates

What are the best ways to secure your WordPress site?

A great path to securing your WordPress site starts with choosing a good hosting company. Install WordPress plugins to help with security that can scan for malware and monitor security, activity auditing, and other features. Make sure you install an SSL certificate to help protect sensitive information. Keep everything in WordPress updated and your site secure from hackers and you’re good to go.

What do WordPress maintenance services do?

They aid with website speed optimization, WordPress upgrades, security audits, emergency support duties, and more. In addition, they provide a variety of digital marketing services, including SEO optimization, pay-per-click management, content marketing, and more.

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  • Emily Journey & Associates


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Conclusion

WordPress maintenance and management services can be crucially important to the right person. There’s a considerable amount of choice out there too, and knowing where to start can be difficult.

My list covers all of the key areas to consider:

  1. GoWP — Best for agencies
  1. WP Buffs — Best for site security
  1. FixRunner — Best for tech support
  1. Valet — Best for ecommerce store owners
  1. WP Site Care — Best for performance optimization
  1. The WP Butler — Best for custom plans
  1. Emily Journey & Associates — Best for site development

These are respectable choices, and thinking about exact needs can help make the decision process a little bit quicker.

There’s a lot to think about when running a site, from site backups to security and optimization.

WordPress maintenance services will allow the process to become more manageable, saving precious time for use elsewhere.

WordPress Vs. Shopify

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If you’ve ever considered launching your own online business, chances are you’ve thought about the required tools. And while there are several ecommerce platforms on the market, Shopify and WordPress remain the most prominent.

If you already have a WordPress website ready, it would be better to go with WordPress for ecommerce as well. All you need to do is install WooCommerce, and you can launch your ecommerce store as an element of your existing website. It also means much less work on your part.

Shopify is better for those who don’t have a website yet, and hence, would want a hands-off and dedicated solution. It also comes with plenty of advanced features to make your life way easier. Try Shopify free for 14 days, no credit card required.

Comparing the Top Ecommerce Platforms

While Shopify and WordPress are excellent ecommerce platforms, there are several other alternatives with their own advantages:

  • Zyro – Best for setting up your web store in minutes
  • Shopify – Best all-in-one ecommerce platform
  • Wix – Best for flexibility and customization
  • Squarespace – Best ecommerce platform for creatives
  • Bluehost – Best for hands-off WooCommerce store setup
  • BigCommerce – Best for medium to large stores
  • WooCommerce – Best for WordPress websites
  • OpenCart – Best for selling digital products
  • Ecwid – Best for integrating with your current platform

Head over to my best ecommerce platforms guide for an in-depth look at where every product stands, along with what criteria do I think they are best for.

Shopify or WordPress: Which is Better?

Offering unparalleled flexibility and power-packed performance, Shopify is an all-in-one ecommerce website builder that will give you an excellent website in minutes.

Even if you’re new to things, you can always fall back on the 24/7 Shopify support to help you with the technical stuff. If Shopify sounds like the right fit, sign up for its 14-day free trial to test out its features.

As you can imagine, having a WordPress website is a prerequisite to use WooCommerce. But this also gives you direct access to so many other functionalities, ranging from a greater selection of themes and apps to managing content to SEO.

If you prefer a more hands-on solution and have the general technical know-how, I’d recommend checking out WooCommerce, for sure.

WordPress (WooCommerce) Wins

Free and Open Source: WooCommerce is absolutely free and open-source, making it the go-to option for startups and small businesses wanting to create an online selling platform. It integrates well with WordPress, and the fact that any user, designer, or programmer can alter its code gives you access to a large community where you can get inspired and share ideas to simplify site management. That said, keep in mind that certain WooCommerce extensions are chargeable.

100% Customizable: You have the freedom to choose your desired theme from a wide variety of professional-grade and high-quality themes. You can decide exactly how you would want your site to look by customizing the various sections like header, footer, checkout, product pages, and so on. It would be even simpler if you have CSS, HTML, and PHP style code knowledge. Moreover, even the plugins are customizable, but I’ll discuss that in more detail in the next point.

Great Plugins: WordPress plugins are incredibly helpful to ecommerce sellers as they can uncomplicate otherwise complicated tasks. WooCommerce is a plugin itself that converts a standard WordPress site into a fully functional ecommerce store. You’ll have to upload products still, but the overall process becomes ten times simpler. Similarly, there are different plugins for different tasks. For instance, there’s Yoast SEO for website and content optimization, WooCommerce MailChimp for email marketing, and WooCommerce Google Analytics to track store performance.

Flexible Product and Inventory Management: You can create web stores with WooCommerce to sell both physical and digital products. You also have the option to keep adding products regularly and set different product types. What’s more, the platform makes inventory quite simple thanks to its WordPress-centric user interface that allows you to keep track of current stock levels and manage day-to-day inventory.

Mobile-Friendly: We live in a time where mobile devices have become an integral part of our lives. It’s why WordPress’s responsive and mobile-friendly designs and themes are a huge plus point. You can also benefit from its emergent responsive web technology without the hassle of having to create new websites.

Tons of Extensions: You can choose from all kinds of extensions—free and paid—to suit your specific needs if you have a WordPress site. These are great to add functionality to your web store to boost customer experience without writing code. You also have all kinds of extension options, such as store management, product page, checkout, shopping cart, better search, payments, shipping, and reporting. 

Useful SEO Capabilities: WooCommerce SEO isn’t challenging anymore, thanks to the WordPress plugins and extensions you can choose based on your precise needs. You can select any plugin or extension you feel most comfortable for optimizing your site. Further, the extensions and plugins undergo regular updates, which makes them secure and efficient at all times.

Uncompromised Cybersecurity: With hackers coming up with more sophisticated methods to steal your private data, consumers today are more aware of their rights to privacy than ever. Keeping this in mind, WooCommerce prioritizes privacy and protection in transactions to create a trustworthy and secure environment for its users. There are frequent updates to ensure the ecommerce platform stays ahead of security issues and is aligned with the newer versions of WordPress.

Multiple Payment Gateways and Currency Support: WooCommerce offers geolocation support that enables you to accept multiple currencies from people across the globe. Having multiple payment gateways and shipping options is very attractive for customers living in various locations and countries. This, in turn, could help boost your sales and revenue. Even from the customer’s viewpoint, the flexibility to pay in their specific currency and tax rate makes things very convenient. It’s a win-win for both sides. 

WooCommerce Losses

Lacks Many Advanced Features: The whole point of WooCommerce is to help developers build web stores, so you can’t use the platform as a robust ecommerce content management system or CMS. This is mainly because it lacks some of the essential advanced features that could make store management easier. Moreover, most of the themes and features to improve customer experience cost money, which will increase your project overheads. 

Frequent Updates: Yes, the regular updates ensure your online store has optimal security and is aligned with WordPress, but sometimes, it becomes too much. Having too many updates also makes using WordPress for ecommerce more time-consuming. Therefore, you have to prepare yourself to handle common issues associated with updating a WordPress plugin–such as data backup and testing.

Not Exactly Beginner-Friendly: Navigating through WordPress web design, development, and maintenance is challenging, especially for people who don’t have prior experience or knowledge about web development and marketing—and WooCommerce is no exception. As it offers minimal maintenance support, you have to rely on online forums for solutions. You need to have a fair level of web knowledge to understand which advice you should follow. Also, if you want to customize your site, you need coding knowledge.

Performance Glitches: There is something known as too many plugins. Considering WooCommerce users often have to install many plugins to add functionalities, they have to pay the price elsewhere. Firstly, plugins take up a lot of memory. Secondly, you may face slow downloading speed and average performance, which will make the process frustrating. Keeping this in mind, I’ll encourage you to implement desired functions through CSS, HTML codes, or jQuery instead of downloading 24 different plugins. On top of this, whatever plugin you do install, make sure you evaluate the pros and cons with care before proceeding.

Shopify Wins

Professionally Designed and Mobile-Responsive Themes: Shopify has ten free themes and 64 premium themes, starting from $140. Every one of them is mobile-responsive. This means your site will automatically reformat to suit the smaller screens, appealing to customers who have logged on from their cell phones. The themes look spectacular and professionally-designed and are available in different styles to match your brand best. 

Better Security: Did you know that a customer will wait for only three seconds, and if it takes any longer than that, they’ll simply abandon it? It is said that one in ten customers expects your page to load in one second. Shopify understands this, which is why they provide 100% SSL to keep their sites fast. Also, since customers mostly pay via credit cards, it takes the initiative to keep things super secure. But Shopify hires cybersecurity experts to keep their website hack-proof and integrate with multiple payment providers to keep checkouts fast and secure for customers.

In-House App Store: Shopify has an in-house app store as one of its biggest USPs that contains over 1200 plugins and apps. This means you can find anything you could possibly want by either paying the price or potentially finding free options. You can use these apps to automate and streamline your business processes, making them faster while also boosting the efficiency of other processes like accounting, inventory management, and shipping. 

Custom Domain: You’ll get a custom domain name after signing up with Shopify–one you chose for your company–to brand your business more effectively. This also gives you the flexibility to handle your domain on the same site location as your domain store. As such, you can make any changes to your domain site as well as your domain store.

Top-Notch Analytics: You get plenty of built-in analytics features to keep track of your store, including customer behavior, stock levels, and conversion tracking. This way, you’ll have complete knowledge about your store–how is it doing, and which parts need to be optimized for better results. The detailed analytics also lets you keep track of online store sessions, products, total sales, returning customer rate, and average order value.

24/7 Customer Support: There are millions of Shopify sites around the world. And while the ecommerce-rich features of Shopify is a great leverage, it’s efficient customer service is also one of the main reasons customers love the platform. You get direct access to a massive database of FAQs, plus email, chat, and phone support with a knowledgeable rep on the other side.

Scalable: Shopify can accommodate the expanding needs of store owners wanting to take their store to the next level. Built with scalability in mind, they are efficient enough to handle sudden traffic spurts or steadily increasing traffic over time. Besides, you don’t have to worry about changing or redesigning your store due to this.

Shopify Losses

Transaction Fees: Starting from $29 per month, Shopify gives you several subscription plans to choose one based on your needs. There are two problems here: First, the basic plan comes with very basic features, and second, $29 for an ecommerce platform isn’t very cheap. While Shopify does support multiple payment gateways, if you don’t use Shopify Payments, you‘ll have to pay an additional transactional fee on top of the payment processor fee (PayPal or Stripe). Let’s also not forget that you only get ten free themes and will have to pay a one-time fee for others.

Customization Limitations: Don’t get me wrong, Shopify is definitely customizable—it just has some hard-to-ignore limitations. If you want to unlock additional features, you’ll have to work on your coding because otherwise, it will remain locked. Besides this, you can customize your site without spending long hours doing detailed coding on their platform.

Steeper Learning Curve: Every ecommerce platform has a learning curve, but Shopify has a slightly steeper one. What further complicates things is the site’s jargon. For instance, instead of saying Categories, Shopify uses Collections, which might confuse some customers. The main problem with Shopify jargon is it unnecessarily complicates the user experience.

Product Filtering and Categorization: I think Shopify’s search mechanism needs to be more efficient, especially considering the millions of users on the platform. For example, when you go search for jeans, you’ll see a listing for jeans. However, you won’t be able to narrow down your search to view “light wash jeans.” There’s no option to narrow down your search, and even if you do, the filter will apply across all products. This may reflect negatively on your customers and stop them from giving your store another shot.

Lacks Email Hosting Facility: Shopify users don’t get an email hosting feature, which is why you can’t host a domain-based email address like info@myshopname.com. The alternative here is to set up email forwarding, which will forward all emails sent to your domain-based address (in this case info@myshopname.com) to your regular email account. You can also answer your customers’ queries through this feature.

Summary

One cannot simply choose between Shopify and WordPress for ecommerce as each has its own advantages.

While Shopify is one of the best ecommerce website builders that offers excellent support to help you with the technical stuff, WooCommerce is a better choice for those having WordPress-powered websites.

In the end, it all boils down to your specific needs and requirements. 

I’ve done my best to include the advantages and disadvantages of each ecommerce platform in detail. I hope this guide gives you a clearer view of each platform’s high and low points and helps you make the right decision for you.

How To Build a WordPress Website

WordPress.org homepage for How To Build a WordPress Website

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WordPress powers more than 43% of all websites on the internet. 

With an excellent reputation and loyal user base, It’s arguably the most reliable way to start and run a website. I use WordPress for my business, and I think it makes sense for most people to build a website on this platform.

Fortunately for you, creating a WordPress website is easy. I’ll teach you how to build a WordPress site in less than an hour.

Your Two-Minute Cheat Sheet

Don’t have enough time to go through the whole article? Here’s your quick cheat sheet.

This is just the barebones guide. You can find complete detail on every step below.

While you have several web hosting provider options available, I recommend starting your WordPress website journey with Hostinger. It’s super dependable, offers fast loading times, and is good for your budget.

Just click here to head over to Hostinger, select the WordPress Starter package, and then Hostinger’s setup wizard will take care of much of the rest.

Towards the end of the guided setup process, you’ll be able to secure your free domain name (included with your Hostinger WordPress Starter plan). Just make sure to opt for WHOIS privacy when you’re given the option after selecting your domain.

Normally you’d have to install WordPress next, but Hostinger has already done that for you. Familiarize yourself with how everything is set up and pick a theme for your website that suits your brand.

My favorite is place for new and striking themes is ThemeForest, but you can also stick to WordPress’s official directory. 

Make sure you set your permalink structure to make your links more readable and optimized for the SERPs. This is super important, so please don’t skip it. You can also install plugins to extend your website’s abilities, but it’s strictly optional.

Finally, all that’s left to do is create fantastic content that makes visitors flock to your website.

Voila! You now have a WordPress website that looks beautiful, has amazing content, and is ready to handle the traffic.

Let’s now see how the whole thing works in more detail. Feel free to jump ahead if you’ve already gotten some of the early steps done!

  1. Choose a Domain Name
  2. Select a Web Hosting Provider and Register a Domain Name for Free
  3. Use a Theme or Design for Your Website
  4. Install Plugins (Optional)
  5. Configure Important Site Settings
  6. Set up Important Webpages and Promote Your Site

Step 1: Choose a Domain Name

Your domain name is your identity on the internet. It’s how your audience will find you and identify your brand. Precisely why you should choose something that reflects your brand and is easier for people to type into their browser and find you.

You have complete freedom to choose your domain name, though. You can choose any name you want—provided it is available and not registered by other companies. 

Here are a few tips for selecting a great domain name for your website:

  • Make it brandable and unique-sounding
  • Make sure it’s memorable
  • Keep it short 
  • Keep it easy to spell, pronounce, and type 
  • Include niche-related words. For instance, if you plan on selling pizza, it would make sense to add pizza somewhere in the domain.

Think about it: Doesn’t www.pizzahut.com sound better than pizzasellingplace.com? Exactly.

You can use Domain Wheel, a free website name generator, to develop more ideas if you’re looking for some inspiration. Simply put in a keyword related to your niche, and the tool will give you tons of suggestions to inspire you.

Domain Wheel search for How To Build a WordPress Website

Now that you have a prospective domain name, you have to check for its availability. Considering there are about 1.8 billion websites online, staying original can be a little challenging, but it’s definitely worth the effort.

Total online websites for How To Build a WordPress Website

Since we all love free things, you can register your domain free of cost when subscribing to a web hosting service.

Speaking of domain registration…

Step 2: Select a Web Hosting Provider and Register a Domain Name for Free

There are hundreds of companies that sell web hosting services and tons of companies that allow you to register a new domain name. But wouldn’t it be more convenient to choose a company that offers you both services?

Case in point: Hostinger.

This web hosting provider is reliable, beginner-friendly, cheap, AND gives you a domain name for free—take it from someone who has created many websites for his clients in his career. 

Just head to the Hostinger website using this link, click Start Now, and then click Select under the WordPress Starter plan. That’s the most affordable hosting package that includes a free domain.

On the checkout screen that follows, make sure you select the four-year term to get the best monthly rate for this plan.

After you create your Hostinger account and submit your payment information, Hostinger’s guided setup wizard takes over.

It will ask you a few quick questions about the purpose of your website and your comfort level with building one.

Hostinger guided setup step 3 for How To Build a WordPress Website

After that, select WordPress as your platform of choice. Hostinger will take care of installing it for you.

Hostinger setup WordPress install How To Build a WordPress Website

Hostinger will even let you pick a theme at this point, but you can just skip that step since we’ll find a good theme later on in this guide.

You’re almost done now! The last step is securing your free domain.

The next screen will give you the choice to get a new domain or use an existing one that you already own. Click the option on the left and a little box will appear that allows you to search for you domain name.

Hostinger secure domain for How To Build a WordPress Website

Since we did all the legwork in Step 1 of finding an available domain, just enter it into the box and select it when it appears.

There’s one important thing to keep in mind here. I highly recommend opting for WHOIS Privacy for $10/year. It conceals personal information like name, email, and phone number from appearing in public databases. After all, spending a few extra cents is nothing when it comes to security.

The option to add it on will be right below your selected domain. Just finish checkout there and you’re all done!

Hostinger will take a few minutes to finish the WordPress installation and set up your site.

Once that’s done, Hostinger will take you to your dashboard. You’ll be greeted by this screen the first time you visit it after initial setup:

Hostinger setup complete for How To Build a WordPress Website

Click Manage WordPress and you’ll be whisked away to the WordPress dashboard.

There, you can see what WordPress version has been installed.

Hostinger WordPress dashboard for How To Build a WordPress Website

You can even do a fresh installation of WordPress in the same area.

So, you’ve got your hosting and domain secured and a WordPress site ready to go! Now it’s time to make it your own.

Step 3: Use a Theme or Design for Your Website

One of the biggest USPs of WordPress is it supports themes. 

Themes are interchangeable designs that allow you to change how your WordPress website looks at the touch of a button. For example, this is what your website will look like by default:

Wine Dome theme example page for How To Build a WordPress Website

You can change your website’s appearance by choosing another popular free theme (I chose Hestia). It’ll now look like this:

Hestia example page for How To Build a WordPress Website

See why theme compatibility is WordPress’s biggest USP?

Choose a Theme You Like

There are hundreds—if not thousands—of WordPress themes out there. 

You can start by looking at the official directory at WordPress.org. But other than that, there are several other theme stores and marketplaces, such as ThemeForest. These are third-party sites that offer free and premium themes to alter the website’s presentation without changing the contents.

Envato Market/Theme Forest homepage for How To Build a WordPress Website

You can go through all the different sites and select a theme that you like best.

Install Your Chosen Theme

If you select a theme from the official directory at WordPress.org, all you have to do is hit Install right away. Here’s how to go about it:

Go to Appearance, followed by Themes, and then click on Add New. Enter the name of the theme you want to install in the search bar, and then click on the Install button under your desired theme.

After the installation, click on Activate to enable the thing on your website.

If you want to use a theme bought from a trusted third-party, the steps will differ slightly. 

Here’s how you can install a premium theme on your site:

  1. Start by downloading the .zip file of the new theme. 
  2. Log in to your WordPress dashboard, and go to Appearance, and then Themes.
  3. Click on the Add New option. You’ll then be directed to the WordPress theme dashboard. 
  4. Select the blue button at the top of the screen that says Upload Theme. Choose the .zip file from your computer after the prompt.

You’ll see a link to activate your team after a success message. That’s it!

While some themes are free, premium themes vary in price. There are options starting at $10 and ones going all the way up to $200. You can choose an option that fits your budget and preferences best.

Step 4: Install Plugins (Optional)

You can consider installing plugins to boost the functionality of your website. Think of them as applications for your mobile phone.

You can refer to our best WordPress plugins guide to zero down options, but you have free reign to choose the ones that appeal to you most. From optimization to website traffic analysis to security, you’ll find tons of options for every category.

WordPress plugins page for How To Build a WordPress Website

That said, don’t go overboard when installing plugins. It ends up slowing down your website, which, in turn, might result in traffic loss. 

As they say, there is too much of a good thing.

Step 5: Configure Important Site Settings

Setting up permalinks is very, very important! Precisely why you should do this immediately after starting your WordPress website.

Permalink structure decides how your website links look. Think of it as a representation of your site structure. For NeilPatel.com, it looks something like this:

NeilPatel.com permalink example for How To Build a WordPress Website

A good permalink structure tells your visitor exactly where they are on your website (in our example, they are in our blog section), while a bad structure does the opposite. Getting the permalink structure right is also crucial for boosting your SEO ranking.

There are many ways to do it wrong, which is why I’ve compiled a three-step guide to help you get it right:

  1. In your WordPress dashboard, click on Settings from the side menu and go to Permalinks.
  2. Under the Common Settings field, click on Custom Structure
  3. It makes zero sense to go for Numeric as it’ll only confuse your visitor. Plus, it doesn’t serve much for SEO purposes.
  4. Enter the tag string “/blog/%postname%/
WordPress permalink settings for How To Build a WordPress Website

Once you’re done, click on Save to save the changes.

Step 6: Set up Important Webpages and Promote Your Site

With your website ready, you can now focus on creating high-quality content that helps you boost your traffic and conversions. Start by creating essential webpages like About, Contact Form, Privacy Policy, Portfolio, and Store (if applicable).

Want more information and a step-by-step walkthrough? Head over to my guides on how to start a blog and how to make money from blogging.

I really cannot emphasize enough the importance of having optimized content on your website that is relevant to your niche. So make sure you do thorough research to get all the nitty-gritty right.

Conclusion 

That’s it! The six steps above are all it takes to launch a WordPress site.

At the end of the day, it all starts with a domain, CMS, and a reliable web hosting provider like Hostinger to launch your website. Continue experimenting and making changes to your site, and you’ll quickly establish a loyal audience that continues coming back for more.

Have you launched your WordPress site yet? If yes, what web hosting provider are you using?

WordPress Vs. Wix

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WordPress outshines Wix by allowing users to create sophisticated websites and customize them to their liking.

Wix doesn’t have as much design freedom as WordPress, but it is going to be way easier for beginners to use on day one.

With WordPress and Wix serving different users, the final decision ultimately depends on your experience level and purpose in launching a website. 

WordPress or Wix: Which is Better?

WordPress is a content management system best for those who value flexibility and versatility. It doesn’t come with great functionality right out of the box, but you can customize it through thousands of themes and plugins. Get your website idea off the ground using WordPress’ powerful, flexible platform. 

Wix is best for beginners who want to whip up a basic website that does not need advanced features. It’s an entry-level tool with an intuitive drag-and-drop editor so you can churn out a website in minutes without much technical know-how. Create your own website today and let Wix do the heavy lifting. 

A Review of The Best Website Builders

Website builders provide the tools you need to spin up basic or highly-versatile websites without touching any code. But it can be challenging to decide which website builder fits your needs if you’re clueless about what to look for. 

With years of experience under my belt, I’ve learned the key differentiators you should look for when shopping for a website builder. Using this in-depth review of the top four website builders, you’ll be able to zero in on the best platform that will set up your website for future success. Both WordPress and Wix made it into the top four.

WordPress Wins

Full data ownership: With WordPress being open-source software, nobody is holding you by the neck. Hence, transferring from one host to another isn’t complicated. You own all your files and can take them to any hosting provider that supports WordPress. 

Site transfers are facilitated by the built-in WordPress Import and Export tools, features you won’t find in Wix. In addition, Wix sites are hosted exclusively on Wix’s servers. Therefore, transferring your website files to a self-hosted WordPress requires a complex, cumbersome process. 

Limitless design options: WordPress is generous to a fault when giving users the power to design their websites. Free themes are available for starters, but if you’re looking for more functionality, you can choose from over 5,000 premium third-party themes that cost anywhere between $25 and $299. 

You can also hire a developer to create a custom theme with unconventional features to make your website stand out. The best part is you can easily switch from one theme to another, unlike Wix that doesn’t allow it once your site goes live. 

No WordPress-sponsored ads: WordPress is free, but you need to purchase a domain name and a hosting plan for it to work (here’s an easy step-by-step guide for getting those). But once your website is up and running, you’re free to monetize it any way you want. Meanwhile, Wix websites are free, and most basic plans are riddled with ads you don’t control. Wix only removes these ads once you upgrade to higher premium plans. 

Unmatched customizability: An open-source software, WordPress offers great flexibility right out of the box. If you’re a programmer or somebody who knows how to code, you can tweak WordPress’s underlying codes to create a website exactly as you envision it. Beginners can also customize their WordPress sites as they please. 

From switching templates after the website goes live to improving site security and adding forms to blog posts, WordPress allows you to modify your site in ways that are impossible with Wix. 

And even if you love Wix for its drag-and-drop builder, WordPress also offers something better with third-party page builder plugins like Elementor or Divi. 

Add plugins to WordPress for WordPress Vs Wix

Massive selection of plugins: WordPress beats Wix for having the most number of plugins to enhance your website’s functionality. Whether you want to add a table, collect your visitors’ emails, or create a landing page, there’s always a plugin that will match your needs. There are over 55,000 free and premium plugins to choose from, so it’s easy to beef up your website without manipulating any codes. 

Robust blogging platform: Even if it has evolved into a full-blown content management system, WordPress doesn’t forget its roots and continues to be the platform of choice for all things blog related. It offers the same blogging features as Wix but takes it up a notch with advanced features you’ll only find in WordPress. 

These include a native commenting section so you can manage your readers’ comments without the need for additional plugins. You also have complete control over posts and pages’ visibility as you can set them to public, private, or password-protected. 

The new Gutenberg editor has its flaws, but the ease of adding, dragging, and dropping different elements without the need for scrolling up or down is second to none. 

WordPress Gutenberg editor for WordPress Vs Wix

Better search visibility: WordPress gives you more control, so your website is more likely to rank on search engine results. Slow website? You can improve your site’s performance by applying speed-boosting strategies. 

WordPress users can also install Yoast, the world’s most popular SEO plugin. This tool helps over five million websites improve how their articles appear on search results, insert internal links, and redirect old pages to new ones, all of which help boost their rankings in the long run. 

Ahrefs, a leading all-around SEO tool, once analyzed 6.4 million websites, and the results show that WordPress sites have higher domain authority, backlinks, and traffic than their Wix counterparts. 

WooCommerce main page for WordPress Vs Wix

Scalable ecommerce functionality: WordPress lacks built-in ecommerce features, but you can easily integrate it with a powerful ecommerce solution like WooCommerce. 

Used by over 40% of ecommerce sites, this plugin can help you display products, fulfill orders, receive payments in multiple currencies, and automatically calculate tax by region. 

To further boost its functionality, you can also install additional WooCommerce plugins. For example, you can connect your store to a print-on-demand service that will process the orders on your behalf. 

There’s also the free HubSpot for ecommerce plugin that lets you track your visitors and lead them into your sales funnel. 

WordPress Losses

No phone support available: WordPress relies on its global community of volunteers. Hence, there’s no customer service hotline that you can turn to if you encounter technical hiccups. 

However, over 39% of websites in the world are powered by WordPress, so whatever issue you’re dealing with, chances are you’ll find a troubleshooting guide in support forums, Slack channels, or YouTube. But having to go looking for solutions is annoying.

The cost of creating and maintaining a website varies: WordPress is free to download. However, it can’t stand on its own, so you need to pay for a domain name and a hosting plan before you can start a website. 

A custom domain name starts at $10 per year, while a hosting plan can start as cheap as $2.95 a month. If your website gets a lot of traffic, you need to pay more for a hosting plan to avoid downtimes with each traffic spike. 

Additional expenses include premium themes and plugins to enhance the functionality of your site. In total, you might spend anywhere between $200 to a few thousand every year. 

Steep learning curve: WordPress is not the most intuitive, and it takes time to understand it. It doesn’t come with an official walkthrough, so you have to learn everything on your own. 

WordPress’s Gutenberg editor, for instance, is not as intuitive as Wix’s drag-and-drop editor. It lacks the what-you-see-is-what-you-get (WYSWYG) framework, so you need to preview the page you’re working on to see what it will look like once published. 

DIY security and maintenance: Website upkeep is not hands-off for WordPress users. The WordPress software itself rolls out updates every once in a while, and it’s your responsibility to ensure you’re using the latest version. 

You also need to manually update themes and plugins to fix bugs and prevent them from affecting site performance. 

As for backups and security, you can handle them yourself with the help of plugins. In exchange for fixed monthly fees, you can outsource all these to a WordPress maintenance service or choose a managed WordPress host to handle everything for you. 

Wix Wins

No upfront cost: Anybody can register and create a Wix website for free. If you want more functionality and to remove the Wix ads, you can upgrade to one of the Wix website plans or the business and ecommerce plans. 

Unlike WordPress, which is 100% free but comes with extra expenses, Wix’s pricing is much more straightforward. 

You don’t have to estimate anything as the pricing page has all the details. The Combo Plan starts at $14 per month and comes with everything you need to get started. You even get a free domain name for the first year, which you have to purchase on your own if you use WordPress.  

If you want more features like chatbots or event booking, you can also add Wix apps that are either free or premium with prices ranging from $3 to $20. 

Wix pricing page for WordPress Vs Wix

Effortless registration: Although the software itself is free, creating a website with WordPress requires the additional steps of domain registration and signing up to a hosting provider. With Wix, registration is as easy as signing up using your Facebook or Google account. Then, you can start building your website right away, either through the editor or with the help of an AI tool.

Wix signup page for WordPress Vs Wix

Intuitive drag-and-drop editor: Wix sacrifices flexibility so users can build websites fast with little to no learning curve. Beginners can easily customize their website templates with Wix’s drag-and-drop interface that lets you move things around and add as many features as you please. 

Unlike WordPress’s Gutenberg editor, Wix’s operates on a what-you-see-is-what-you-get (WYSWYG) paradigm, so everything you see is exactly what will appear once the site goes live. 

Wix editor for WordPress Vs Wix

If you’re short on time, you can also let Wix’s Artificial Design Intelligence (ADI) tool automatically create a website based on your answers to a series of questions. 

Wide selection of free templates: Wix offers the most free pre-made templates among all website builders. With over 500 templates to choose from, it’s easy to pick one that best aligns with your brand, whether you’re a non-profit organization, a photographer, a small business, or a school. 

Each template is packed with built-in elements that you can drag and drop wherever you want. The editor also gives you the freedom to change the background image into a video, select a different color palette, change the font, and tweak other elements that matter to you. 

Wix templates for WordPress Vs Wix

Handpicked in-house and third-party apps: Wix’s over 250 apps are the counterpart of WordPress’s plugins that enhance a website’s functionality. WordPress plugins may outnumber Wix’s, but you have to sift through piles of clunky ones before finding what you need. 

With Wix, however, quality matters more than quantity. Everything in the Wix App Market has already passed Wix’s guidelines, so you won’t have to perform a vetting process. In addition to that, all apps integrate well with Wix, so there’s no need to worry about incompatibility issues. 

Multiple customer support channels: Unlike WordPress that mainly relies on its support forums, Wix employs a more personal approach to customer service. 

Users can request a call-back through the Wix website so a company representative can talk to them directly. This way, they won’t have to waste time fixing the issue themselves and let a real person handle it.

If phone support is unavailable, Wix users can also reach out via email or search Wix’s online help center to find relevant articles and video tutorials. 

Easy WordPress-to-Wix migration: If you jumped on the bandwagon but soon found out that WordPress lacks the simplicity you’re looking for, Wix offers an easy way out. All you need to do is enter the WordPress blog URL in Wix’s blog import tool, and with one click, your WordPress blog will be converted into a Wix blog. 

With this import tool, you can choose only the blogs you want to move to Wix without building anything from scratch. 

Hands-off security and maintenance: The benefit of having your website hosted in a closed ecosystem like Wix is its technical team handles all maintenance and security. This means you won’t have to lift a finger to create backups, update apps, or fix security glitches. 

All updates are implemented and deployed by the in-house technical team, so you won’t even notice there’s an update taking place. In contrast, WordPress doesn’t handle any of these right out of the box, so you’re basically on your own. 

Plus, Wix sites pass the highest levels of industry security compliance, from PCI DSS for ecommerce payments to SOC Type 2, and ISO 27001, 27701, 27018, and 27017.

Managed infrastructure and site data backups: Wix also delivers even more helpful features for reliability that you don’t have to handle yourself. Their data center infrastructure is robust enough to keep your site always available, even during routine maintenance. Plus, autoscaling allows your site to handle traffic spikes without missing a beat.

And, your site data is always kept up-to-date and backed up with redundant copies kept across all of those Wix data centers. You’re never left worrying if your site is available to visitors or if you can restore it should something go terribly wrong.

Wix Losses

Pricing page lacks transparency: At first glance, Wix’s pricing page seems to show how much you’d pay for each premium plan every month. However, the prices are actually what each plan would cost if you avail of the annual subscription. 

If the Unlimited plan’s monthly cost is $12.50 per month, you’ll actually pay $150 upfront. If you opt for monthly payments, the cost is significantly higher. 

It wouldn’t have been an issue had Wix placed a toggle button through which users can compare the prices if billed monthly or annually. To be fair, there’s a disclaimer at the bottom saying that the prices displayed are for yearly subscriptions, but the text is so small you won’t notice it right away. 

Limited flexibility: Wix may be easier to use than WordPress, but that comes at the price of flexibility. 

For instance, the free templates have good enough designs for inexperienced builders but are limiting for more advanced website creators. Not to mention that you won’t be able to switch to a different template once the website goes live. 

Wix is also not open-source, so programmers and other tech-savvy users won’t be able to tinker with its underlying codes. Lastly, the over 250 apps inside its App Market can enhance the site functionality, but they pale in comparison to the thousands of WordPress plugins. 

Underwhelming blog features: Wix wasn’t created with bloggers in mind, so if written content is your website’s main attraction, choose WordPress instead. 

Although Wix offers basic blog features like categories, tagging, cover image, and post scheduling, it lacks other vital elements like native commenting. 

For readers’ comments, Wix only offers Facebook comments, which are much more vulnerable to a slew of spammers. Also, the Wix plain blog editor doesn’t have the drag-and-drop functionality of WordPress’ Gutenberg, so the formatting options are limited. 

Ad-free site not available in all plans: A free Wix website comes with Wix ads and a Wix subdomain. You won’t pay for anything, but it’s not good for branding. If you already have a custom domain, you can connect it to Wix for $4.50 a month (billed annually). However, the Wix ads remain at this level. You can only get rid of the Wix-sponsored ads if you upgrade to more expensive plans. 

Difficult to get out of: Wix websites are hosted in their infrastructure, so once you create a website with them, it’s stuck in their hosting for life. It also lacks the Import and Export function of WordPress, so moving your website files from Wix to WordPress is tricky. 

To give you an idea, your posts will be imported in the form of RSS files, while your images will need to be transferred manually. For most users, this complex procedure is enough to discourage them from making the switch. 

Inferior built-in SEO functionality: Wix is not a terrible choice if you only get direct or social media traffic on your site. But when it comes to search engine visibility, Wix lags behind WordPress. 

Wix is not up to snuff from a technical SEO standpoint as it relies on Javascript to display its URLs, making them more difficult to crawl. The Javascript also leads to code bloating, resulting in slower pages. 

Wix also doesn’t have the basic features to set up a website to SEO success like hreflang and AMP support. Users have limited control over redirects and are restricted from editing the site’s robots.txt and sitemap. Creating shorter URLs is also impossible, so you’ll be stuck with https://www.neilpatel.com/post/keyword instead of the more concise and user-friendly https://www.neilpatel.com/keyword.

Comparing The Top Website Builders

Whether you’re a tech-savvy geek or a technophobe who wants to take a stab at creating websites, there’s a website builder that meets your needs. Here are my top four recommendations: 

  1. Wix — Best for general use
  2. Weebly  — Best for beginners
  3. Web.com — Best for building landing pages
  4. Shopify — Best for ecommerce
  5. WordPress — Best for content management

In terms of Wix and WordPress, if you’re a novice who needs a leg up in creating your first website, Wix can get you online fast. The ease of its drag-and-drop editor is second to none, while its wide range of free templates can give you a professional-looking website without breaking the bank. 

For high-traffic websites that generate income from content, WordPress remains the best content management system.

Best SEO Plugins for WordPress

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Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can be complicated or overwhelming for the average business owner, but it doesn’t have to be.

With a decent SEO plugin for your WordPress website, the process of improving the quality and quantity of website traffic will be a breeze. 

An SEO plugin offers you tools and powerful features like audit checklists, sitemaps, and content insights to optimize your website. 

I’ve compiled a list of the best SEO plugins for WordPress options, making it easier for you to find the best tool to suit your company’s needs. 

#1 – All-In-One SEO (AIOSEO) Review — The Best Way for Beginners to See Their Pages Rank Higher 

All in One SEO (AIOSEO) is the original WP SEO plugin, and it’s been helping people with no SEO experience get their pages to rank higher ever since it came out.

Over the years, it’s grown to handle every aspect of SEO you could possibly want to manage. But don’t worry, you’re not going to get bogged down making tons of decisions about sitemaps and JSON schemas.

For as powerful as the plugin is, it’s remarkably easy to use, even if you don’t have any SEO experience.

Simply download the plugin and follow the setup wizard. If you can answer basic questions like whether you have a blog or an online store, you’re good to go. 10 minutes later, your site is going to have all the fundamentals locked down.

Troubleshooting and fine-tuning things from there is a walk in the park. AIOSEO is constantly auditing your site, explaining the changes you need to make in plain English.

It automatically prioritizes issues, showing you what needs to be addressed immediately as well as missed opportunities for optimization. Simply follow the steps outlined in the checklist and you’ll be well on your way to maxing out your site’s potential.

There are explanations for everything you do, if not links to guided walkthroughs. You can really learn what you’re doing as you go.

Compared to Yoast, another solid plugin that covers WordPress SEO across the board, AIOSEO is just a little bit easier to use, especially for people who are new to the space. 

Yoast is what I use. It’s definitely got more features for the power user close at hand, whereas the AIOSEO interface is going to be more intuitive for novices.

One of the reasons this plugin has more than 2 million active downloads is that the free version is loaded with helpful features:

  • XML sitemaps
  • Titles and meta descriptions
  • Basic schema markup
  • Custom titles and meta descriptions
  • Bad bot blocker
  • Basic WooCommerce SEO
  • Search engine notification

If you upgrade to AIOSEO Pro, you’ll get a lot more hands-on customer support, and additional features to manage SEO across all of your sites:

  • On-Page SEO
  • Social media integration
  • Advanced WooCommerce SEO 
  • Local SEO
  • RSS SEO
  • Video SEO
  • Google AMP SEO
  • Structured Data (schema markup)
  • Redirection manager

Even with the full spread of powerful features, AIOSEO is very competitively priced. The pricing tiers are mostly broken down by the number of sites you need.

For the most part, all of the paid plans have the same set of features, but you only get priority support with Pro and Elite plans. There are a few things that don’t come with the Basic plan, such as Local SEO and the redirection manager, but not much is left out.

It can be really hard to choose between the various SEO plugins that “do it all,” but if you are new to SEO or WordPress, nothing is going to be as easy to get started. 

The free version is very powerful and the pricing on paid plans is definitely less expensive than Yoast. While advanced users might be able to get more out of Yoast, AIO has everything you need to get your site to start ranking higher. 

Get AIOSEO today. If you don’t think it’s 100% worth it, the company offers a 14-day money-back guarantee.

#2 – WP Rocket Review — The Best for Ranking Higher With Site Speed 

Site speed impacts your search rankings. People don’t like slow sites. They’ll leave if it takes more than a second or two for the page to load. Google notices that people are bouncing and moves you down in the rankings.

Speed is one of the few ranking factors that WordPress SEO plugins don’t typically address. But you definitely want to make sure you are doing everything in your power to keep your site fast.

This is why I recommend WP Rocket. It’s a cache plugin, not an SEO plugin, but it’s going to give your pages a performance boost which will help your page rank. You can learn more about cache plugins here (and see why I like WP Rocket the best), but for now I’ll just say it lets you deliver data to visitors a lot faster.

All you have to do is install WP Rocket. It’ll get cracking on your site right away, optimizing your files, media, and databases to make sure your site is as fast as possible.

Have an ecommerce site? No problem. WP Rocket will keep things speedy without getting in the way of your shopping carts and user experience. 

I highly recommend installing WP Rocket in addition to your SEO plugin. WP Rocket has compatibility with popular options like Yoast, so you can get the increased site speed without any plugin conflicts.

Go ahead and build a complex interactive website. Add videos and don’t worry about load times. With WP Rocket, you can design really cool pages without leaving visitors in the lurch.

All of the plans come with the same feature set, you just need to pick one based on the number of sites you have. Single is good for one site, Plus works for three, and Infinite will work for unlimited websites.

Because it’s a paid plugin, you get top-notch customer support. Submit a ticket from within the plugin and you’ll have an answer shortly.

When it comes time to renew WP Rocket, you’ll get 30% off the sticker price. If you let it expire, you’ll have to pay full price again.

It’s a really good deal on a truly plug-and-play product. There’s not much you have to do in order to see a benefit. If you are a veteran WordPress user, you’ll find that there is a lot you can configure to make your site even faster.

No matter what your experience level, if you are serious about SEO, you need a good cache plugin. Don’t leave such an easy win on the board.

And if you have a cache plugin that’s not getting the job done, it’s time to make a switch.

Get WP Rocket today. If you don’t see the results, the company will offer a full refund within 14 days of signing up. There’s no risk, only reward.

#3Ubersuggest Review — The Best Web App for Domain and Keyword Research

If there’s a drawback with SEO plugins for WordPress, it’s the vulnerability and bloat they can cause. Plugins can open up new security concerns if they’re not kept updated and stable and a whole lot of plugins on your WordPress site can cause it to load slower for visitors, undoing any gains you make in SEO.

So, why mess with a plugin when you can use a web app to do detailed keyword and domain research? That’s exactly what Ubersuggest accomplishes.

My team has built one of the best SEO tools out there. Just plug in a domain name or keyword into the search bar and see all the detailed information you can glean.

The keyword analyzer shows you front-and-center the search volume, average cost-per-click for running a Google ad campaign on the keyword, and scores for how crowded the field of competitors is overall and in paid search.

You also get a handy graph showing historical search volume, plus keyword string ideas for finding less crowded opportunities and content examples to generate ideas of your own.

The same goes for domain searches. Plug one in to see how many keywords it ranks for in organic search, how many backlinks it’s generated, and stats for traffic and domain authority.

There’s even a great chart for breaking down how keywords rank in groups, split out between those placing in the top three of search results, between positions four and 10 on the first page, and so on.

And that’s all on the free version of Ubersuggest. You’re allowed three free daily searches.

Unlock even more data by paying for Ubersuggest, including longer historical search and ranking metrics, tracking, deeper competitive analysis, backlink opportunities, and a whole lot more.

And, guess what? It costs around 90% cheaper than competitors like Moz and Ahrefs.

Seriously, you can use all the features of Ubersuggest for as little as $29 per month. That’ll allow you to manage up to three websites. You can also pay for a lifetime license at that tier for just $290.

Need to manage more sites? The Business plan can handle between four to seven websites for $49 per month or $490 lifetime. Eight or more websites will require the Enterprise/Agency plan, which is still very reasonably priced at $99 per month or $990 lifetime.

So now there’s no need to add bulky plugins that can add security vulnerabilities to worry about. Use my web app Ubersuggest and get all the insights and data you need, no plugin required.

#4 – SEOPress Review — The Cheapest WordPress SEO Plugin That Covers All Your Bases 

SEOPress is an approachable solution for people that are new to SEO and aren’t looking to spend the big bucks on one of the more established WordPress SEO plugins. 

And it’s not just for US-based users either—SEOPress is available in 17 languages with professional translations in UK English, Chinese, Hindi and more.

Let’s talk about sticker price. SEOPress is less than half the cost of what other “do-it-all” SEO plugins will run you. And those are typically only good for a single site. 

SEOPress is $39 per year for unlimited sites. That’s right. Unlimited sites.

This is a major cost difference that adds up quickly. Five sites with Yoast or AIOSEO is going to be several hundred dollars. With SEOPress, you don’t have to worry about that at all.

So you might be thinking, there’s no way SEOPress can really cover all my bases at that price. You tell me. 

Even the free plugin from SEOPress lets you handle:

  • Installation Wizard
  • XML and HTML sitemaps
  • Mobile/Desktop preview
  • Facebook/Twitter preview
  • Image SEO
  • Redirections
  • White label
  • Titles with dynamic variables
  • Twitter cards and 
  • Content analysis

And some of these are really deep features. You get unlimited keywords in the content analysis. Yes unlimited with the free version. Usually you are limited to a single word or phrase unless you buy premium.

And you can white label services with the free version. This is a big deal for developers and agencies because they can put their own branding on SEOPress tools they use for clients.

Think about it, unlimited sites plus white labeling means you can build your brand without breaking the bank.

And if you go for SEOPress PRO, you’ll be able to address a much fuller scope of issues, including:

  • Video SEO
  • Structured Data Types (schemas)
  • Breadcrumbs
  • Local SEO
  • Broken link checker
  • Deep WooCommerce integration
  • 404 Monitoring
  • RSS SEO

For those of you keeping score at home, you’ll notice that AIO SEO and Yoast have slightly larger feature sets. So there is definitely a tradeoff, no doubt about it.

But here’s the thing: for a huge number of users, SEOPress has everything they need, and it’s not freighted with tons of features they’re not going to use.

Pricing could not be more straight-forward or fair:

One quick thing about the pricing for SEOPress Pro. You pay $39 for the license, which comes with a full year of automatic updates and customer support. 

If you decide not to renew, you can still use the plugin, you just won’t get the updates or access to customer service. And when you renew, you’ll pay $39, regardless of whether there has been a price increase since then.

For people looking to get deeper into keyword analysis and backlink research, SEOPress offers the Insights add-on for $99 per year per site. You’ll be able to track keyword rankings with information about cost per click and search volume.

With Insights, you’ll also get a much closer look at backlinks on your site. At a glance, you can see who is helping increase your domain authority, or get rid of low quality links that are hurting your reputation.

Insights is obviously a big increase in price, but it’s actually going to cost a lot less than comparable tools from Semrush or Ahrefs.

There’s no way to spend as little and get so much. Take advantage of the 14-day free trial of SEOPress today.

#5 – Semrush Writing Assistant Review — The Best Way to Draft SEO-Friendly Content

Semrush is a leader in SEO. The company offers one of the most comprehensive platforms for analyzing keywords, researching competitors, digging into paid search marketing, and much more.

Semrush also makes a free WordPress plugin called SEO Writing Assistant, or SWA. Once you install SWA, you’ll get to draw on Semrush’s amazing platform for help and guidance as you draft content for your sites.

Simply enter the keywords you are targeting and then start writing. You’ll get recommendations and see your content score broken down into readability, SEO, originality, and tone of voice.

It’s all really intuitive. The factors that contribute to your score are broken down in plain English, and SWA gives you concrete actions you can take to improve. Below, I’ve grouped four separate screenshots together so you can see what kind of guidance you get for each category:

On the left, the tone of voice is rated as between neutral and formal, with 83% consistency. In this case, the writer is probably fine, but SWA calls out the most casual sentences in case they want to make it even more consistently formal throughout.

Similarly, SEO-friendliness, readability, and originality are clearly described. These terms are sometimes hard to figure out, especially for newer writers, but SWA makes it easy to see.

You’ll need to create a Semrush account in order to use the plugin, which you can do for free. I will tell you right now that the free account is very limited. You’ll only be able to make a single content template, which is more of a novelty than a tool to really improve SEO across your site.

I think a Semrush account is worth it, personally. My team uses Yoast, which has integration with Semrush, and I don’t know what we’d do without it.

Tackling issues like readability, keyword-density, and plagiarism is really important. If your articles aren’t original, or Google thinks you scraped them from someone else, your sites are going to take a major hit in the rankings.

Now a Semrush account isn’t free by any means. It’s definitely an investment you make in SEO that can pay huge dividends by bringing higher quality traffic to your site.

One thing to be aware of is that the Pro license doesn’t come with the content templates necessary to benefit from SWA—you’ll need a Guru or Business account.

The good news is that you don’t need a paid Semrush account for everyone in order to benefit. You could get a single Guru account for your content manager, and once they connect a document to a content template, any writer working on that document will have access to SWA.

With a Guru subscription, you can create 800 content templates per month, and with Business the limit is 2,000.

I know it’s expensive, but I really only recommend using a paid Semrush account with SWA. Like I said, the limits of the free plan don’t really give you the range to really see a benefit.

In that sense, I look at the free plugin as more of a free trial rather than a useful freemium license. Pretty much all the one-star reviews I read were people frustrated by the free version. On the other hand, people using the paid version were blown away by how helpful it was.

And, if you do spring for the paid version, you’ll get access to more than 40 other tools to help you improve SEO. I’m not going to lay everything out here, but you should definitely explore the entire Semrush platform.

#6 – Schema Pro Review — The Best for Getting More Clicks With the Rankings You Already Have

How do some sites wind up with a way more appealing piece of real estate on search engine results pages? 

You know what I’m talking about. These sites have images, videos, map screenshots, and other attention-getting features. Here’s an example of what happened when I searched “best grilled cheese”.

I don’t have the metrics on it, but I’d bet you a dollar that these top three results are absolutely killing it compared to the grilled cheese pages near the bottom of page one.

So how do you get your pages to show up like this?

You need to use schemas, which tell Google how to interpret your content. It used to be really challenging, but if you use a plugin like Schema Pro, you can get these killer search results for all of your pages with a couple of clicks.

That’s why I love Schema Pro. Instead of trying to learn and navigate the rules of the road for schema markup, you just select the type of content you’re working on, and the plugin takes it from there.

The content types that Schema Pro supports include:

  • Articles
  • Books
  • Courses
  • Events
  • FAQs
  • How-To’s
  • Job Postings
  • Local Business
  • People
  • Products
  • Recipes
  • Reviews
  • Services
  • Software Applications
  • Video Objects

If you are consistently publishing any of these types of content, you absolutely need to check out Schema Pro. 

There’s just no way that plain text search results can compete. For local businesses, wouldn’t it be nice for your store to show up automatically located on Google Maps? Boom, there’s a picture of your storefront, it’s location, and the drive time’s already calculated.

Or say you are a food blogger. Wouldn’t it be better if your pages showed up as rich results with a perfect image, cook times, and star-rated reviews?

There is zero coding required. Schema Pro handles all the backend legwork.

You already work so hard to get your pages to rank. Whether you’re on page one or page three, you want to put your best foot forward. Schema Pro lets you optimize your pages to ensure that Google gives you the best chance of getting those rich results.

Schema Pro is a paid plugin. Brainstorm Force, the company that makes it, also offers a free plugin called All-in-one Schema.org Rich Snippet.

The free version might be interesting to check out, but it’s a little dated at this point. It doesn’t use the latest JSON LD code, which is what Google favors. Schema Pro does use this code (although you don’t have to worry about writing it yourself) and you don’t have to do any manual entry at all. With the free version, there’s a lot more work for you.

And the paid version is not very expensive at all, especially considering how big an impact it can have on SEO.

Schema Pro is just $63 for a full year. This includes 1-on-1 support from the customer service team. If your license expires, you can still use the plugin, but you won’t get updates or the free customer support.

You can also purchase a lifetime license of Schema Pro for a one-time fee of $249. You’ll continue to get updates and support for as long as you use it.

Alternatively, you can opt for the Growth Bundle, which includes Schema Pro along with other excellent WordPress tools from Brainstorm Force. You get the Astra Pro theme, a bunch of beautiful pre-made websites, WP Portfolio, Convert Pro, and more. 

The Growth Bundle is a great deal for agencies and developers who can get a great price on tools they need to help clients.

If you are just handling schema markup on your site, Schema Pro is all you need.

Another thing to be aware of is that Schema Pro is not an SEO plugin, which means you can use it with plugins like Yoast. You’ll have to be a little careful to ensure that there’s no plugin conflicts, but it’s definitely possible to use Schema Pro to complement your other SEO plugins.

There’s no free trial, but there isa 14-day refund policy. If you are not getting the beautiful and attention-grabbing search results your sites deserve, I would go out and get Schema Pro right now.

#7 – Yoast SEO Review — The Best Free SEO Plugin for WordPress 

Yoast SEO is the most downloaded SEO plugin on WordPress. The free version has helped people learn and conquer SEO, and the premium versions help businesses take their content to the next level.

This is what I use for my sites. I’m a Yoast guy and have been for years. Because I have a bunch of huge sites, I use the premium version and it’s totally worth it. But if you are wondering which free SEO plugin is the best, I say Yoast.

And I’m not alone by any means. Yoast has more than 25,000 five star reviews on WordPress. 

It’s incredibly easy to use. Maybe it’s not quite as effortless for new users as AIOSEO, but it’s not significantly harder. 

And the free version includes a few things that AIO and SEOPress do not. Without spending a dime on Yoast, you’ll be able to tackle:

  • XML sitemaps
  • Titles and metas
  • Canonical URLs
  • Schema markup
  • Breadcrumbs 
  • Keyword analysis
  • Readability analysis
  • Google/mobile preview

If you have a large site and you want to get by with a free plugin, Yoast is what you want. With AIOSEO and SEOPress, you have to upgrade to premium to handle schema markup and breadcrumbs. With Yoast it’s all free.

And it all makes a difference. Breadcrumbs help readers navigate a site, and they show up in search results. Here’s an example using the search “best treadmills”.

You can see the breadcrumbs in the orange boxes. Readers love these because they help them navigate the site. They know exactly where they are. Google loves breadcrumbs because they tell it how your site is organized.

It’s an easy win to help your pages rank higher, and only Yoast includes it for free.

Should you outgrow the free version, premium Yoast is worth every dollar you spend. I couldn’t dream of running my sites without it. You’ll get:

  • Internal linking suggestions
  • Content insights
  • Redirect manager
  • Elementor integration
  • Automated publishing
  • No in-app advertisements
  • 24/7 customer support

You’ll also be able to take advantage of extensions like Local SEO, News SEO, Video SEO, and WooCommerce SEO. Do note that these extensions are paid add-ons, which aren’t included with your premium subscription, whereas AIOSEO and SEOPress include them with paid versions.

Premium Yoast subscriptions start at $89.

As I mentioned, Yoast is what I use, so I fully endorse the premium SEO plugin. There’s a lot my team does to make sure our pages continue to rank highly. With Yoast, it’s easier to consistently implement best practices across all of our sites.

So I love the premium plugin, but it’s not going to be for everyone.

If you are in the market for a free plugin, I highly recommend Yoast SEO. For zero dollars down, you can start addressing SEO right now. What are you waiting for?

#8 – Ahrefs Review — The Best SEO Plugin for Advanced Users 

Ahrefs SEO is a WordPress plugin from Ahrefs, one of the best known names in SEO. This is a super lightweight plugin you can install for free, but you’ll have to get an Ahrefs license to really take advantage of everything you can do.

Think about it as a way to audit the content on your site. But instead of getting surface level information that’s free from Google, you get the benefit of Ahrefs deep databases. You’ll be able to dive into your pages’ performance at the most granular level.

Here’s a screenshot of what I’m talking about:

For each page, you can see where it’s ranking (position), total traffic, what percentage of the traffic is organic, and the number of backlinks. On the right hand side, you’ll see a list of clear suggestions based on the page’s performance.

If a page is under-performing, it may make sense to update it with fresher content. Or maybe you should merge several low-performing pages with one that’s doing better.

Yes, you always want new content, but sometimes less is more. This post from Ahrefs explains some of the benefits from culling and merging underperforming pages, and how it can actually boost your traffic.

But let’s not lose sight of how amazing this is. Tracking backlinks and rankings on your own is incredibly time-consuming. With Ahrefs, everything you could possibly need is right at hand.

If you go with the free plugin, you’ll be limited to auditing the content on your own site. This is really useful if you are just starting off, but for advanced users, I highly recommend paying for an Ahrefs license and taking advantage of your ability to backlink research, content gap analysis, and getting a complete picture of how your competitors’ sites are ranking.

Say you want to dive deeper into the backlinks you have to figure out what’s helping and what you might want to drop. Simply pull up it up in Site Explorer:

You can see each link, along with its domain rank (DR), URL rank (UR), the number of referring domains, total traffic, as well as the anchor text to the backlink.

Don’t know what those are? Don’t worry, just go with one of the other SEO plugins and think about Ahrefs down the line.

But if you are trying to go the extra mile with SEO, your link building team will love all of this information. And you could get just as detailed analysis of your competitors’ sites. Figure out what they are doing well and adjust your strategy as needed.

Paid Ahrefs subscriptions start at $99 for a single user.

You’ll note that additional users only $30 each, which is definitely a plus. That said, Ahrefs is not an all-in-one price. You may have to pay for additional features, and there are limits on the number of sites, keywords, and other factors you can track.

For the most part, the various plans all come with the same set of tools. You get higher limits with the more expensive plans.

It can definitely get pricey, which is why I really recommend it for advanced users. They’re going to get a ton out of it.

People who are newer to the space might not be able to get the bang for their buck. And if you don’t want to pony up for an Ahrefs subscription, you’ll probably find the free version limited. Especially when you consider everything that comes with the free version of Yoast or AIOSEO.

But if you are trying to compete in a lucrative space, you need the detailed information Ahrefs provides.

Check out the free plugin today, or test drive a premium Ahrefs subscription for $7. That will give you one week to try out every amazing tool the company offers.

It’s not cheap, but if you are really trying to take your SEO game to the next level, there’s hardly a better plugin out there.

What I Looked At To Find the Best SEO Plugin for WordPress 

Now that you know my top seven best SEO plugins for WordPress, it’s time for you to make a decision that aligns with your company’s needs.

Identifying these criteria is the most critical part of your decision-making process because it will dictate whether it will improve your website traffic and engagement and inform your strategies. 

Consider the following factors and whether prospective tools align with your personal preferences to make the right decision for your business. 

You Can Handle All Aspects From a Single SEO Plugin

Getting the best SEO plugin for your site is the key. You really don’t want to try and cobble together a few different SEO plugins to handle various areas.

The reason is that having multiple plugins with overlapping functions is going to cause problems. So-called plugin conflicts can slow your site down, if not crash it altogether.

Plus, all plugins take up resources. The fewer you use, the less strain put on your site.

Everyone loves plugins because they do amazing things for your site. But you have to be thoughtful about what you use—especially with SEO plugins.

Some plugins will explicitly call out that they’re compatible with others. That can work. But unless you really know what you’re doing, I’d stick to a single SEO plugin to reap the benefits and avoid the issues.

So head into your search with a list of all the aspects of SEO that you’re looking to address. There’s a lot out there, and you may find capabilities you didn’t know existed. Here are some (not all) of the different areas that WordPress SEO plugins can help you tackle:

  • Keyword SEO: Discover which keywords matter and work them into your content.
  • Backlinking: Check, evaluate, and build backlinks to your site to increase domain authority.
  • On-Page SEO: Make your page easier to read and find for Google bots and human readers.
  • Google AMP SEO: Optimize your content for mobile users.
  • SERP SEO: Use schemas to claim a coveted spot on the first search engine results page (SERP) with a featured snippet or spot in the carousel.
  • Local SEO: Get found by people searching in a specific area and rank higher on Google Maps.
  • Video SEO: Give your videos the best chance to rank highly and show up even if people aren’t using the video search.
  • Social Media SEO: Integrate your plugin with social media channels to preview how posts will look or see how they are performing

Now, since you know that you can’t use multiple SEO plugins, it should come as no surprise that some of the most popular options can handle everything. The three I recommended are SEOPress, Yoast, and the aptly-named All in One SEO.

If you have a big site, lots of sites, or you are really trying to get after SEO, I’d choose one of these options and not look back. 

Maybe you’re not pursuing every avenue right now, but you probably will be. And that option will be open to you without having to jump ship to a new plugin later. SEOPress actually lets you deactivate the aspects you’re not using, which is more efficient for your site.

Plus, SEO is always changing. These “one-stop-shop” SEO plugins have to change with the times in order to keep their reputation as a complete solution. Again, switching plugins is a pain, but you probably won’t have to by going with the multipurpose SEO plugins.

Not everyone is going to need the full arsenal. If you are just starting off, you can probably get by with a leaner plugin that targets the specific areas of SEO that really matter to you. 

This is going to be less resource-intensive and way cheaper. Don’t pay for something loaded with powerful features you aren’t going to use.

Key SEO Metrics Available At a Glance

You can’t improve what you can’t measure. 

Good SEO plugins give you clear visibility into your site’s performance.

Look at Ahrefs Rank Tracker tool, for instance. You can see how different pages have performed over time with a few clicks:

All the relevant metrics are plain as day: referring domains, referring pages, organic traffic, organic keywords, the value of that traffic, and all your social shares broken down by channel.

Tracking this on your own would be a full-time job. Now, you have tons of intelligible data to make informed decisions about your content and outreach strategy. 

What’s working? What’s not? Now you know.

More than just information, the very best SEO WordPress plugins offer concrete steps you can take to improve.

All in One SEO gives you a site score based on an SEO audit checklist. This reflects how well your site is doing score that reflects how well your site is doing:

If something major has happened, you’ll know immediately. You’ll also know why.

At the bottom of that screencap, there’s a Complete SEO Checklist. This shows you why you have the score you do, broken down into Good Results, Recommended Improvements, and Critical issues.

Clicking on any item in the checklist brings up a short explanation of what’s happening and how to fix it:

With the right WordPress plugin, SEO goes from being this mysterious black box to something you can manage at the tactical level.

There’s a lot of metrics and tools to help you. SEOPress* and Yoast both work inside your WordPress editor to make the process of writing SEO-friendly content easier. Everything from making sure your keyword density is on point to crafting meta descriptions that look good in Google.

I could go on for pages, but what’s important for you is finding a plugin that reports performance metrics in a way you can turn into results. Businesses don’t optimize their sites in the same way, they have different audiences and markets to reach.

Which plugin gives you the toolkit to understand performance and make effective decisions?

You Don’t Have to Hire a Specialist to Use It

SEO is its own speciality. There’s a lot to know, and it’s always changing, so “knowing SEO” is an ongoing battle. If this is your first time trying to optimize a site for search engines, I’d pay very close attention to how easy the plugin is to use.

Good options for beginners include AIOSEO and SEOPress. Both of these have install wizards which guide you through a quick setup. Even total rookies will be able to get their site’s fundamentals in order.

Say you’ve never built an XML sitemap. It’s really important, especially for bigger sites with a lot of pages. AISEO creates these for you, and makes sure they are up to date. It’s all clicks on your end—no code required—and now Google’s going to get your readers to the right page automatically. Readers getting what they want quickly is a very good thing.

I really favored options that run SEO audits of your site and give you simple checklists. Sometimes you’ll be able to troubleshoot issues right there, but what happens when you need more help?

I highly recommend using the knowledge base of the different plugins you are considering. Can you find the information you need and make the changes necessary? 

This is really important if you are going with a free option, as there’s understandably limited support. With paid options, you can get the one-on-one help, but being able to learn how to solve things on your own is ideal.

Trends in SEO change like the weather. Google and Bing constantly update the algorithms that drive search. You can have everything optimized and running great only to see rankings drop a few weeks later. 

If you, your teams, and clients are comfortable with the plugin, it’s going to be easier to recognize and respond to issues faster.

Can You Get By With a Free SEO Plugin?

Most of the WordPress SEO plugins I’ve reviewed have a free and a paid version. And there are a ton more both kinds out there.

If you are just getting started with SEO on your site, I would highly recommend test-driving a free version of the plugin that makes the most sense given your goals.

The free plugins I reviewed don’t all cover the same ground. The free version of Yoast lets you address breadcrumbs, whereas AIOSEO and SEOPress do not. SEOPress, lets you optimize your posts for social media, which is an add-on for Yoast.

In my reviews, I’ve broken out which features come with the free version and which you have to pay for. You may find that a free plugin is all you need for now, and you can cross the upgrade bridge if it makes sense later.

Do be aware that you’re going to get very limited customer service with a free plugin. You can ask questions in forums, but you may be waiting a few days or more on an answer.

So if you are really new to WordPress and SEO, it may make sense to spend the extra money to get priority support and premium knowledge resources included with paid SEO plugins.

For more experienced users, I think it’s best to jump right in with one of the paid versions. This way there won’t be limits on what you can do. 

If you’re ready to start executing on SEO, you’ll likely find the freemium versions constraining, and you won’t get a full sense of what the total plugin can do. 

Most* of the premium SEO plugins offer a refund if you aren’t happy within the first few weeks, so it’s pretty risk-free. Yes, it’s going to take a lot longer to start seeing results, but at least you’ll know if you like the interface and it’s tackling all the issues you have.

Looking at free vs. paid SEO plugins, you need to strike a balance. New users don’t want to pay for an overwhelming amount of features they’re not going to use. Experienced users can’t afford to start using a tool that only lets them implement a piecemeal strategy.

If you can afford a paid SEO plugin, I would definitely recommend it. Given how big an impact it can have on boosting traffic to your site, the cost will be a drop in the bucket.

Conclusion

My top recommendations for the best SEO plugin for WordPress are AIOSEO and Yoast SEO. To recap the full list:

  1. All-In-One SEO (AIOSEO) – The best way for beginners to See their pages rank higher 
  2. WP Rocket – Best for ranking higher with site speed
  3. Ubersuggest – Best web app for domain and keyword research
  4. SEO Press – The cheapest WordPress SEO plugin that covers all your bases 
  5. Semrush Writing Assistant – The best way to draft SEO-friendly content 
  6. Schema Pro – Best for getting more clicks with the rankings you already have 
  7. Yoast SEO – Best free SEO plugin for WordPress 
  8. Ahrefs – Best SEO plugin for advanced users

AIOSEO is the perfect toolkit for an expert looking for extra help, while Yoast has a unique page analysis functionality and is great for any size business.

WP Rocket makes your site so much faster, helping you pass the crucial first test for ranking well on Google.

Our very own Ubersuggest tool eliminates the need for a true plugin. Just enter keywords or domain names into the web app and see all the data you could need to spot opportunities.

Semrush offers content strategy features and is affordable. SEOPress is an excellent choice for novices and is very straightforward with some customization options.

Ahrefs offers great customer service, and Schema Pro has diverse functionality. 

No matter what you decide, any tool in this guide will be on the right path to optimize your website and increase traffic.

Best WordPress Plugins

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The best WordPress plugins make your site faster, increase traffic, and tighten website security for your visitors.

But you don’t want to overdo it. Installing too many WordPress plugins can actually slow down your site. Using certain plugins together can cause conflicts that you definitely want to avoid.

I’ve got a good number of plugins on my blog, which gets millions visitors each year. You can fill out forms, sign up for membership content, and more–everything runs smooth. It’s all about picking the right plugins that work together for your needs.

I’ve put together a list of the seven best WordPress plugins you can install right now to improve your site. After the reviews, I’ll show you how to evaluate your options and avoid issues.

#1 – WP Rocket Review – The Best for Speed Optimization

A WordPress site can put a lot of strain on your server, which increases the possibility of crashing your web server. To avoid such unfortunate situations and ensure all your site loads super fast, you need a caching plugin like WP Rocket.

WP Rocket is a simple and effective plugin designed to boost your website speed and performance. It doesn’t wait for someone to request a page to save it to cache. Instead, it automatically builds your website cache, resulting in an immediate performance boost.

The plugin turns on recommended WordPress caching settings, such as page cache, gzip compression, and cache pre-loading automatically.

You can also activate other features like CDN support, lazy loading images, DNS prefetching, and minification to improve your page loading time and reduce bounce rate.

Starting at $49 for an annual license per site, WP Rocket is less than $5 a month. There are solid WordPress cache plugins available, but WP Rocket is still my number one pick in the category. It’s easier to use than some of the less expensive ones, which is probably why it is so popular.

There is no free trial, but WP Rocket does have a 14-day refund policy. So you can try it risk free to see how it impacts your site’s performance. Learn more.

#2 – Yoast SEO Review – The Best for Increasing Organic Website Traffic

Users serious about search optimization trust Yoast SEO to reach their goals. All you need to do is select a keyword, and the tool will then optimize your page around it.

Not only does it help you improve SEO, but it also analyzes your content readability. It gives you real-time page analysis to optimize your content, images, meta descriptions, titles, and keywords.

No wonder it might be the most popular SEO tool in the WordPress plugin repository.

Further, Yoast checks the length of your sentences and paragraphs, whether you’re using enough transition words or subheadings, how often you use passive voice, and so on. It tells Google whether or not to index a page or a set of pages too.

Although there’s a free version available, you can upgrade to the premium version for $89 per year that comes with extra functions, allowing you to optimize your content up to five keywords, among other benefits.

#3 – Akismet Review – The Best for Spam Protection

Nobody appreciates the opinions of bots. Unfortunately, spam comments are an unavoidable price of website success.

With Akismet, though, you’ll be able to eliminate spam comments–no matter how genuine they look–effectively and effortlessly. After all, it’s the official anti-spam plugin developed by Automattic, the parent company of WordPress. 

There’s a possibility of the plugin missing out on a few spam comments or not identifying false positives. You only need to tell it about them, and the plugin learns and gets better over time.

The plugin also checks your contact form submissions against its global spam database to weed out unnecessary and fake information.

Although free to download, you will need an Akismet.com API key to use the plug-in. These keys are free for personal blogs, but businesses and commercial sites will have to opt for paid subscriptions.

#4 – Wordfence Security Review – The Best to Handle Security Concerns

Wordfence Security is a WordPress firewall and security scanner plugin. It offers your site full protection from malicious hackers, malware, spam, and other online threats.

It searches for malware and compares code, theme, and plugin files with the records in the WordPress.org repository, allowing it to verify their integrity and report any changes to you.

The plugin comes fitted with a web application firewall (WAF) called Threat Defense Feed that helps Wordfence identify and block malicious traffic. Plus, it prevents brute force attacks by ensuring you set stronger passwords and limiting login attempts.

Wordfence firewall and security scanner will give you security risk alerts before your website is hacked, keeping it safe and secure. It also comes with login security features that enable you to activate reCAPTCHA and two-factor authentication on your website.

A free version of Wordfence is available. But you can also buy the premium plan at $99 per year to get extra security features like the real-time IP blacklist and country blocking option, along with support from professional support engineers.

#5 – UpdraftPlus Review – The Best for Site Backup

Many people fail to consider the importance of having a backup plugin. Don’t make that mistake.

Thousands of sites get hacked daily. WordPress sites are a really common target for hackers because it is so popular and a lot of non-technical folks use it. Simply hoping you won’t be next on the list is just wishful thinking. You have to be prepared, which is where backup plugins come in handy.

There are plenty of WordPress backup plugins online, but only a few are as powerful and user-friendly as UpdraftPlus. It allows you to set up automatic backups and store your files on a remote location like Google Drive, FTP, email, and Dropbox.

Restoring your website from a backup is also super easy and can be done straight from the dashboard. Other features include advanced reporting, database encryption, additional storage destinations like OneDrive, Azure, SFTP, and backup scheduling. 

You have the option to either use the base version of UpdraftPlus or purchase its premium version that costs between $195-$399 a year, depending on the plan you choose.

#6 – MonsterInsights Review – The Best for Data Tracking

Data tracking is crucial for scaling and improving your website. Without facts, all you’ll have are assumptions. MonsterInsights allows you to add, customize, and manage your Google Analytics-related web tracking services–all within your WordPress dashboard. 

Google Analytics helps you improve your website, content, and better user experience by giving you key insights about how every webpage performs and which online campaigns bring in the most traffic and conversions. 

Some of you may have heard of Google Analytics for WordPress. It was the former name for MonsterInsights. The name might’ve changed, but the purpose remains the same.

You can use it to view active sessions, conversion and bounce rate statistics, and keep track of outbound and internal links and downloads. Other details like your total revenue, top products, and top referral sources will also be included.

With all the information readily available, you can work on creating a data-driven strategy to grow your business.

MonsterInsights has a free version that allows you to install Google Analytics, track data, see metrics on the dashboard, and run reports.

There is also a premium version that is more of an investment but includes post and page tracking, custom tracking and reports, AdSense tracking, and more. The premium version starts at $99.50 per year with the Plus plan.

#7 – WPForms Review – The Best for Designing Contact Forms

You can use WPForms to create appealing and highly-effective contact forms rather quickly, thanks to its drag-and-drop builder. 

It comes with several cool features like smart conditional logic to ensure your visitors have an excellent customer experience, which, in turn, increases the chances of them submitting their contact information. 

Moreover, WPForms can integrate with all popular marketing and payment platforms.

The free plan lets you create a secure contact form with ease.

But if you want access to more templates and advanced features to boost your lead generation efforts, the paid version would be more appropriate. The paid version starts at $39.50 per year for one site.

What I Looked at to Find the Best WordPress Plugin

I’ve compiled a list of a few factors you should consider to narrow down your search to determine the right fit for your website. 

Every plugin’s page on the WordPress Plugin Repository contains detailed information about the plugin, its purpose, how to use it, and more. Refer to this information to decide whether a specific plugin is a good fit for you.

Search the plugin directory and pick a few options you think will suit your needs best. When it comes to making the final selection, use my tips below:

Free vs. Premium

We all like free things, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re better. WordPress plugins are no exception.

Free plugins can be great if you don’t want to spend money right away, and most of them are enough to get the basic job done. 

However, if you’re looking for more features or higher customization, most plugins will need to be upgraded to the premium version to unlock more features. 

Contrarily, premium plugins are designed to ensure compatibility with new WordPress versions and provide better security. On top of this, you get a more comprehensive selection of features to customize and enhance your site.

If monetary commitment is something you’re worried about, you’ll be pleased to know that most premium plugins are quite affordable. So you won’t be breaking the bank anytime soon.

In the end, it’s your call. Just make sure you make the right choice for the functionality of your site.

Overall Plugin Ratings

The overall rating of a WordPress plugin can tell you a lot.

Previous users can rate a plugin up to five stars based on their experience. Skip options that don’t have an average of at least (or almost) four stars. 

Plugins with a one-star, two-star, or three-star rating are mostly glitchy and create a lot of problems. Whereas higher-rated plugins are well maintained, work well, and offer adequate support. 

Otherwise, why would any user give them good ratings and reviews?

Go Through As Many User Reviews You Can

There’s no better way to determine the quality of a plugin than directly from users. This way, you know precisely whether a plugin is successful.

I would also recommend looking at the total number of ratings. For instance, if a plugin has only been rated by five or seven people, it means it’s relatively new. If they give a decent review, the average rating will automatically be higher.

It’s always better to download plugins with more users and reviewers.

So, not only should you read the user reviews, but also check the total number of reviews.

See How Active the Support Section Is

Every plugin on the WordPress plugin repository has a support forum.

Go through the support tab to check out the level of activity within these forums. Regular activity is necessary as it indicates the developer is responsive and wants to deliver an excellent experience to its users by solving user-reported issues.

If you’re evaluating a premium plugin, their official website should be your go-to instead of the support tab. 

Find out how easy it is to get support and whether it has the features you need. Send a test email to see how fast the developers respond to check out their efficiency.

If a plugin has several unresolved threads or you don’t get an answer to your test email, it probably means the plugin is abandoned or that developers are not responding to user issues. 

It could still work, yes. But you won’t get adequate support if you face problems.

Find Out the Frequency of Updates

The best plugins are updated regularly. If not, or if it has been a long time since their last update, they may not be well-maintained. 

Of course, there can be some exceptions, but regular updates are still an important consideration.

Ideally, plugin updates should be in line with WordPress’ core updates. This ensures optimal compatibility and a good level of active implication from the plugin developer.

You can check exactly when a plugin was last updated by visiting the WordPress plugin repository. 

Also, check out the Active Installations section. This will give you an idea of the plugin’s popularity and whether it’s still relevant to the ever-changing market trends.

Conclusion

WordPress plugins can do it all, from designing and maintaining a website to optimizing it for search engines to enhance user experience.

Get started today with my top recommendations. These are trusted products that can help you take your site to the next level. Here’s the full list to recap:

  1. WP Rocket – The best for speed optimization
  2. Yoast SEO – The best for increasing organic website traffic
  3. Akismet – The best for spam protection
  4. Wordfence Security – The best to handle security concerns
  5. UpdraftPlus – The best for site backup
  6. MonsterInsights – The best for data tracking
  7. WPForms – The best for designing contact forms

Use Yoast to keep your SEO on point, and block spam and bots with Akismet. Next, make sure your WordPress security remains uncompromised with Wordfence.

WP Rocket keeps loading times short, while UpdraftPlus can come to your rescue when you face compatibility issues or want to migrate your site.

Got a favorite plugin that I didn’t mention? Comment below to let me know!

Best WordPress Themes for Blogs

Disclosure: This content is reader-supported, which means if you click on some of our links that we may earn a commission.

More people blog on WordPress than any other platform. If you want to stand out from the crowd, you need the right theme.

WordPress themes determine the layout of your blog, the impression it has on visitors, and how easy it is to navigate.

There are a lot of WordPress themes to choose from. Over the years, I’ve experimented with dozens of themes across my sites. As one of the internet’s most successful bloggers, I know what works.

Here’s my latest take on the seven best WordPress themes for blogs. This page is always getting updated as new themes come out and others outlive their use.

Keep reading to find my top picks along with a buyer’s guide that will help you make sense of your many good options.

#1 – Olsen Review – The Best WordPress Theme for Lifestyle and Fashion Blogs

If you are a lifestyle or fashion blogger looking for a place to store all of your content among a focused layout with crisp fonts, Olsen is the perfect theme for you.

It takes very little work to pull off a very professional blog. You’re not going to break the mold with something people have never seen before–Olsen’s strength is in it’s familiarity. Readers will immediately be comfortable with your layout, knowing how to navigate and share your content.

Providing a fluid and peaceful reading experience, Olsen is the theme for anyone who wants their images to stand out next to their content. Tell a story with more than just words.

Olsen is completely customizable and is the perfect place to show off your best work.

Two unique elements this theme offers are a  Featured Content slider and an Instagram footer widget. Both elements are great for sharing your work with readers.

The Featured Content slider is a little different from the average Featured Content add-on. This element allows you to pick up to six images or posts and include them at the front of your blog. The reader can navigate this slider by clicking the left or right arrow.

The Instagram footer widget is unique and doesn’t appear in any other theme on this list. This is the perfect add-on for a fashion or lifestyle blogger who wants to showcase their photos. It shows the widget at the bottom of your blog and features your most recent Instagram posts in a large single row.

The downside is for people who want the Instagram feature for free. Unfortunately, you must pay for the theme or buy a plan to use it, but we think this trade-off is worth it.   

You can get started with Olsen today for free. Upgrading to Olsen Pro is only $34.30 for a full year. There is also a Club Membership, which gives you access to many more themes and plugins, and it’s only $48.30.

#2 – Extra Review — The Best for Most Standard Blogs

If you are looking for a WordPress theme that lets you do it all–and have an easier time doing it–then Extra is my top recommendation.

With some themes, you can get pigeon-holed into a certain style or format. With Extra, you never have to worry about limits or boundaries.

Blogs of any type, digital magazines, portfolios, online stores–really any kind of blogging experience you are looking to deliver is possible with Extra.

Extra is from Elegant Themes, the same people who make Divi, which is the most popular WordPress theme in the world. If you are looking to build a unique website on WordPress, Divi is a great choice. 

However, if you are specifically focused on finding a theme for WordPress blogging, go with Extra. It gives you the same foundation as Divi, but it’s been optimized for bloggers.

The most important aspects are the new modules within the Divi Builder that help you curate your content for readers, including post feed, post carousel, post slider, and tabbed posts. All of these are tied to the categories you set and easy to arrange in an appealing layout.

Extra Theme Preview

Publishing the striking blog on the left is as easy as filling in the intuitive layout on the right.

With Extra you get the Divi Builder ability to create everything visually, but it’s within a framework that makes blogging easier. It’s a true drag-and-drop editor that lets you build elegant posts and pages very quickly. 

Start from one of more than 800 pre-made layouts and customize virtually every aspect from there. Colors, fonts, sizing, spacing, sizing is easy to adjust with clicks, not code. Whatever you design is fully responsive to any screen size. No extra work or double-checking on your part.

Here are some of the other ways that Extra helps people take their WordPress blog to the next level:

  • Built-in ratings and review system
  • Customizable menus and headers
  • Automatic WordPress updates
  • 24/7 customer support
  • Optimized for WooCommerce
  • Social media integration

All of these features work together beautifully. Your blog readers are greeted by an enticing layout and your site is effortless to navigate. They can read, review, rate, and share your posts across other channels.

Extra is available for purchase through a membership to Elegant Themes. That means for one price, you get access to Divi, Extra, as well as Bloom (email plugin) and Monarch (social media plugin).

This is a complete set of tools that can power your entire website with a modern and integrated blog.

Elegant Themes memberships are $89 per year, or $249 for a lifetime subscription. This includes 24/7 premium support and unlimited usage of every product.

The company is constantly adding new features. I’m talking about fresh layouts every week and new tools to help your blog stand out.

Try the whole suite of Elegant Themes products risk free for 30 days.

#3 – Newspaper Review — The Best for Breaking Stories

Newspaper theme

Some people need a simple blog that showcases their portfolio. Others need a platform that delivers new content to their readers on a daily basis, whether they are breaking stories about their brand or community.

I’m talking about a blog experience where visitors show up to find a new arrangement of content every morning. If this describes you, then Newspaper is the WordPress theme for your blog.

It is the number one bestselling news theme of all time, and for good reason. You can use any kind of content or social media integration–it’s all going to look sharp. 

Beginners and professionals will love how easy Newspaper is to use. Whether you want to get set up in minutes or craft a trendsetting design, you’ll find the theme very accommodating.

Include sound, moving images, and other features to engage your audience with no more than a few clicks. And, you can rest assured that none of the changes you make will slow your site down.

This is true even if readers are on their phone, as Newspaper is completely integrated with the Google AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) plugin. 

Instead of a slow, cluttered experience–as you might get with another news-style WordPress theme–all of your readers can enjoy what you publish. Given how much traffic comes from mobile-users, this is a big deal.

None of this will require coding, so your whole team can take advantage of the theme. No graphic design degree necessary to edit images. With Newspaper, it’s a snap to create eye-catching, on-brand images that develop your story.

Newspaper Blend Mode

This means less steps to make sure your content, logos, headers, and footers are all working together to deliver a positive blog experience for your readers. And if you are constantly updating, the time-savings adds up quick.

With Newspaper, you can eliminate hours from your monthly workflows and free up your team to create.

Despite being able to do so much, management remains quite simple. Quickly gain mastery over your blog and use the great features included with Newspaper like:

  • 100+ pre-built websites
  • 1,000+ pre-made templates, pages, posts and sections
  • Unlimited sidebars
  • Live search display
  • WooCommerce shortcodes
  • Membership paywalls
  • Rating and review system

Monetizing your blog is incredibly easy with banner ads, Google Ads, and Adsense. All ads are responsive, and Newspaper starts you off with 14 predefined and 5 custom spots. You can place ads where you want without disrupting the flow of your blog.

Pricing for Newspaper starts at $59 for a regular license. This includes free future updates and 6 months of premium support. You can extend support for a full year for $17.63.

There’s a ton included with the price, but if you want to add other plugins to optimize SEO, open an online store, or increase security, you can rest assured that Newspaper theme will integrate smoothly.

Get started with Newspaper today and start publishing a world-class blog every day.

#4 – Akea Review — The Best for Minimalist Style

Akea Theme

Akea is a WordPress theme from GoodLayers, a company that empowers bloggers who live by the “less is more” mantra. 

Over the years, the company has released some of the greatest minimal blog themes. It’s best for people who don’t want too much information and stimulation a negative and expect readers with similar tastes.

You get total control over how your content is exhibited. Play with the spacing between items on your page. Tweak the size of thumbnails used for your blog. Use a single image to fit any screen size with the 100 percent fluid layout. 

Customize it until you get it just right. With Akea, you don’t have hundreds of templates, but you don’t have to squeeze anything into a pre-built mold. Instead, you get a relatively small selection of blog layouts and each one is an open field.

Upload your own font. Bring in any video, quotes, galleries in a slider. Make a bold impression using a few commanding content elements arranged just the way you like.

Akea Theme Preview

If you’re looking to jam the most content per square inch into your blog, this is not for you. 

This isn’t to say you can’t include sidebars, or menus, or give your readers tons of options. With Akea, that’s all easy to do. It’s just really focused on the minimal style, so all of these elements are unobtrusive and clean.

You get a floating navigation bar, so your readers always have quick access to more content, but you are never overloading them at any point.

That’s the spirit of Akea, which comes with a trim feature set designed for you to start making it your own immediately. Some of the essentials include:

  • Drag-and-drop page builder
  • Unlimited customizable sidebars
  • 14 blog layouts
  • Social media integration
  • WooCommerce integration
  • Custom skin colors for page sections

While you get comparatively few templates compared to other options, there’s a lot you can do with each one.

Akea starts at $54. It includes free lifetime updates and premium customer support for the first six months.

Because Akea is a newer theme, there are fewer reviews of the theme than some of the others I recommend. But GoodLayers has always done a solid job, and Akea works well with the latest plugins and WordPress updates.

This means less work on your end to make sure everything is running smooth, as the modern integration decreases problems and potential security issues.

It’s also fully compatible with the WordPress Gutenberg editor, which is now standard for all new sites. This is going to save a lot of time and make the final product look better with less configuration.

If you value simple, clean design for your WordPress blog, Akea is a theme you should check out today.

#5 – Pearl Review — The Best Corporate WordPress Theme

Pearl Theme

Pearl is an incredibly feature-rich and flexible WordPress theme that’s got enough options to outfit any business. 

I recommend this to people whose blog is part of a larger website. Pearl is kind of overkill if you just need a blog, though you could make an incredible blog with it. 

On that note, it might be a good option if you are hitting your limits with your current WordPress theme. If there’s features and functionality you can’t swing now, Pearl will help you get there.

To put it simply, with Pearl you’re not making compromises–you’re making a blog that’s tailored to fit the needs of your industry and goals. Pearl offers an astonishing range of demos for virtually every vertical: agency, beauty, ecommerce, law, music, software, and more.

Each of these demos has been carefully designed to include a suite of features and layout to meet the challenges businesses face.

The Pearl Viral demo, for example, showcases your posts according to how popular they are, with professional category tags to help readers find what they want.

Pearl Preview

For a business in the entertainment industry, the out-of-the-box power of this blog layout and styling is obvious. The same is true for everyone of the many industries Pearl supports.

And your blog will be totally tied into the rest of your site, which is a must if blogging is a part of your business outreach. Readers can react to posts, leave a reply, share it on social media, or get drawn further into your site and company offerings.

You can add more than 55 different types of shortcodes (UI blocks) into your posts. This includes things like a music player, calls to action, events lists, icon boxes, galleries, pricing tables, and a lot more.

This is huge for corporate users who need a range of ways to communicate and interact with their audience. Some of the other standout features include:

  • Visual Composer drag-and-drop builder
  • Mega menus with three drop down levels
  • Customizable headers and footers
  • 800+ fonts
  • Custom icons
  • Sidebar builder
  • 24/7 with live chat

There’s really not much you can’t do with Pearl, and most of it can be accomplished without writing a line of code. 

And all of this is available for the price of $59 for a regular license with free lifetime updates. Six months of maintenance is included, with additional coverage available for purchase. 

If you need a high-functioning blog, bear in mind that Pearl includes a number of premium plugins for free. You get WPBakery, Booked Appointments, Ninja Popups–in total it’s about $325 worth of premium plugins based on the going rates.

Pearl is a very reasonable price for what you get, and you’ll have to spend less moving forward. 

Get started with Pearl today, and forget about limitation. 

#6 – TinySalt Review — The Best for Food Blogs

Tiny Salt Theme

For as popular as food blogs are, they can be tricky to create if you are using a multi-purpose theme. 

You can do it, for sure, but it’s going to take a lot more work. And it’s probably not going to come out as well as if you had just started with a WordPress theme built specifically for food blogs..

TinySalt is just that. It’s got every feature and formatting capability you need to blog in this space. 

Where a recipe would be difficult to get the formatting correct with an ordinary WordPress theme, TinySalt gives you turnkey options to produce this niche type of content immediately.

Breakdown your most complicated dish into a series of simple steps. Include photos where you think it will help. Add a button early in the post to let readers jump straight to the recipe.

And you don’t have to spend any time getting all of this to flow on your blog. TinySalt has 12 demos you can import to your website. Mix and match to deliver the exact experience you are looking for.

Tiny Salt Theme Preview

Readers can quickly search through your recipes with a convenient filter, or browse your beautiful blog. When they find one they like, they can print, rate, and share them with their friends on social media.

If they decide against a certain meal, your blog can automatically recommend related recipes at the end of a post.

Don’t let the Tiny in the name fool you, this theme is packed with potential. You get:

  • 32 blog variations
  • 10 post templates
  • Recipe videos
  • Unlimited colors
  • 900+ fonts
  • Featured recipes slider on your homepage

All TinySalt is missing is your recipes and imagination.

TinySalt starts at the low cost of $39 for a regular license. Future updates and six months of premium customer service is included at that price. Ongoing support is available if you need it.

At that price, it’s not hard to turn a profit with TinySalt, even if it’s just a side-hustle for now.

You’ll be able to see your own products with WooCommerce, or promote items through advertising and affiliate marketing. It’s also compatible with MailChimp, which means you can turn your food blog into a newsletter to build your subscriber base.

Eliminate the complex configuration that goes into food blogging and take your site to the next level. Stop cooking with the wrong equipment and get TinySalt today.

#7 – ConsultingWP Review — The Best for Promoting Your Business

ConsultingWP Theme

I really like ConsultingWP for businesses that want their blog to make a splash.

Whether you are looking to make connections for providing services, or to get your brand out to the world, this is an empowering WordPress theme for business blogs.

You get tools to build that anyone at your company can use on day one. You’re not going to have to hire out a professional or lean on a single person in-house to keep everything looking great.

Never touch code and never compromise on the finished product.

Simply browse through the hundreds of templates offered by ConsultingWP, find the one you like, and begin importing it. You’ll have complete control over what plugins and options you want to bring over to your new blog.

From there, you can customize the blocks, fonts, headers, layout, and so on on. Instead of having to mess around editing PHP or CSS files, everything is a few clicks.

Up to this point, what I’ve described is a very good WordPress theme for blogs, but where ConsultingWP steps away from other easy/powerful options is the business-focused feature set.

One of the most useful is the Cost Calculator Builder, which lets clients price out your services on your blog. Instead of having to call for a quote (which can be a tricky step to get people to take) people can investigate on their own using the simple calculator.

ConsultingWP

Normally, creating an interactive form like this would take some serious effort. And, if you wanted to make changes to your pricing, it might be a hassle to get it right.

With ConsultingWP, you have full control over this simple feature. Run promotional pricing without worrying it’s going to break your site and confuse potential clients.

Some of the other fantastic built-in elements include:

  • eRoom Zoom meetings and webinars
  • Professional booking for appointments
  • 100+ page templates
  • 500+ theme options
  • Customizable menus
  • Events manager
  • 24/7 customer support

For businesses, the all-in-one feature set is really attractive. I mean, you can do all of this with a hodge-podge of third-party plugins, but there is zero guarantee they are going to work well together. At best, you’d have a lot of maintenance to keep things running smooth without slowing your site to a crawl.

With ConsultingWP, on the other hand, businesses get a toolkit that’s been designed to work in harmony. This means less work for better results.

Starting at $59 a regular license, this is a great deal. Trying to match the feature set by downloading individual plugins would be far more expensive and frustrating.

A regular license comes with six months of premium customer support. You can choose to extend support for an additional cost.

If you are looking for a professional blog that establishes your business as a leader in your space, I highly recommend ConsultingWP.

What I Looked at to Find the Best WordPress Theme

Now that you know our seven best theme recommendations, it’s important to understand what matters.

Make the right decision by following these considerations.

Know Your Blogging Niche

It sounds self-explanatory, but it’s relevant when choosing the perfect theme. Today we looked at the seven most common blogging niches, and how each theme suited for those niches is different.

When choosing a theme, you must know your blogging niche because you don’t want to install TinySalt if food blogging is your focus. Different niches require different themes with distinct features, layouts, and designs.

I would suggest creating a list of your most passionate hobbies and start there.

Customization is Key

Having a customizable theme is crucial for an easily-navigated blog.

It’s okay if you are not interested in investing money into your blog. However, many free themes have limits on customizing, whether for headers, colors, or layouts.

Every theme on this list is customizable to some extent, some more than others, so it’s important to look into the nitty-gritty before installing.

Features

Every theme listed here today has some incredible features that work best for its particular niche. However, some themes have more unique elements than others, and it’s critical to weigh whether you need them.

Paid themes are more likely to have more unique elements, such as Olsen with the Instagram footer widget, and the premium plugins that come free with Pearl.

If you know you won’t need an Instagram footer, it’s best to keep your money in your pocket.

Some basic features that are imperative for most blogs include:

  • Custom colors
  • Site logo
  • Flexible display
  • Classic menu
  • Widgets

So, make sure you look for these when installing any theme.

Conclusion

Running a successful WordPress blog isn’t easy. Having the right theme helps a lot.

Here’s the complete list of my top recommendations:

  1. Olsen – Best for lifestyle and fashion blogs
  2. Extra – Best for most standard blogs
  3. Newspaper – Best for breaking stories
  4. Akea – Best for minimalist style
  5. Pearl – Best corporate WordPress theme
  6. TinySalt – Best for food blogs
  7. ConsultingWP – Best for promoting your business

Extra is a great all-in-one blog solution that’s going to cover most people. No matter what direction you take, you’re always going to get the latest features to experiment and engage your audience.

Some of my recommendations work really well in particular niches, like Olsen and TinySalt, whereas others play to a certain style. Akea favors minimal content with maximum impact, whereas Newspaper is going to give readers dozens of posts to read at every turn.

ConsultingWP and Pearl are safe bets for any business blog. I’d lean toward the former if you are looking for something sleek for your company, and toward the latter if your blog is part of a more complex site.

What matters most, of course, is what you do with your WordPress theme. Even the best products can only get you so far. Check out my guide on how to get your blog posts to rank in Google’s top 10 search results.

Hope this helped. Happy blogging!

Best WordPress Themes

Disclosure: This content is reader-supported, which means if you click on some of our links that we may earn a commission.

Your website should load quickly and present content for readers in a sensible way.

The good news is there’s a wide variety of excellent WordPress themes that do just that.

WordPress themes offer different layouts for your website–be it a blog, online store, portfolio, or business. You’ll be able to present content beautifully and boost engagement with your brand. Get everything designed the way you want without writing a line of code.

I’ve put together a guide to the best WordPress themes available now to help get you started.

#1 – Jayla Review — The Best for Online Shops

The Jayla theme offers a minimal and contemporary approach to the e-commerce industry, allowing you to create a store and sell products online with ease.

Jayla is built around the popular and powerful WooCommerce plugin, which means you’ll have access to a large number of features.

Jayla also gives you access to multi-block builders to speed up your site’s creation and an almost unlimited number of colors for your layout.

Perhaps most impressive is the wide variety of shops you can build with the theme. From furniture shops to tech stores and everything in-between, Jayla is useful in most e-commerce scenarios.

Other highlights of the Jayla theme include:

  • One-click install demo
  • Lifetime support
  • Header and foot builder
  • Drag and drop page builder
  • Woo product filter
  • Compatible with Yoast SEO
  • WooCommerce product wishlist
  • Supports over 800 Google fonts

On the pricing side, Jayla costs just $59 for the regular license, which is more than enough to get your store started.

That regular license also adds in future updates for no extra cost and six months of support with site bugs and other issues.

If you want additional support, you can extend it to 12 months for $17.63. Get Jayla here.

#2 – Astra Review — The Best for Beginners

We all have to start somewhere, and the same is true with WordPress themes. Where do you even begin? The answer is with Astra.

Astra is our top pick for WordPress beginners for its slick customization options, high level of functionality, and the considerable number of free extensions available for it.

I mentioned earlier that ensuring great page builders were compatible with a theme was important, and Astra doesn’t disappoint. Some of the most popular page builder plugins, like Elementor and Beaver Builder, are easily used with it.

On top of that, Astra offers a lightweight experience, allowing it to load exceptionally quickly. That’s without mentioning the super easy customization and pre-built options for blogs, portfolios, and online shops.

Other key features of the Astra theme include:

  • Dedicated sidebar
  • WooCommerce ready
  • Mega-menu
  • Mobile headers
  • Fluid layout
  • Spacing control
  • Custom fonts
  • Infinite loading

In terms of pricing, you can get Astra for free, and this provides you with a basic theme able to get you up and running. For some, it might be all they need.

There is also a pro version of Astra available that offers additional settings and options. The pro version is a must if you need a great deal of customization and new layouts. You can purchase it for $47.

#3 – Tusant Review — The Best for Podcast Creators

Tusant by Second Line is a first-rate theme that’s best suited for podcast creators, musicians, voice-over actors, and music streaming.

While many themes can offer flashy designs, Tusant is practical, too, allowing you to embed audio and video from multiple sources.

For example, a podcast creator would be able to embed an entire ongoing series with ease, while musicians could display their latest work. The developers say Tusant can showcase an unlimited number of entries.

What’s more, Tusant supports all of the vital podcasting plugins such as PowerPress, Seriously Simple Podcasting, and PodLove. You can host MP3 files locally, too, so there’s little to get in the way of your creativity.

Tusant also offers the following:

  • Over 900 Google fonts supported 
  • One-click theme install
  • Dedicated support
  • Responsive mobile design
  • WordPress built-in customizer
  • Full documentation for each section
  • Translation ready
  • Page builder support included

For the pricing, there are three distinct tiers from the Tusant creators:

  • Single Podcast Theme: $69 for one Second Line Podcast WordPress theme of your choice + 12 months of updates and support
  • Podcast Theme Bundle: $139 for access to all Second Lines Podcast WordPress themes + 12 months of updates and support
  • Lifetime access: $389 for unlimited lifetime access to all Second Lines Podcast  WordPress themes + lifetime updates and support

Second Line currently has five different podcast WordPress themes. Tusant offers multiple layouts, beautiful displays for playlists, and supports over 20 podcast hosting providers. If you’re a podcaster, you cannot go wrong with Tusant. Buy it here.

#4 – Sydney Review — The Best for Freelancers

Whether you’re a freelance marketer, editor, or content writer, an excellent theme to show off your accomplishments and details is essential.

That is where Sydney comes in. This is a powerful and feature-rich theme ideal for freelancers, both those new to the industry and those who have been doing it for years and might want to change things up.

Sydney has more than 600 different Google fonts to choose from, and users have access to a full-screen slider, which can make a strong first impression on potential clients.

I also like the custom Elementor blocks that can be designed just how you want, enabling you to focus on getting your branding right.

Other features of the Sydney theme include:

  • Slider or static image header
  • Translation ready
  • Social buttons
  • Cross-browser support
  • Regular updates
  • Live customizer
  • Parallax backgrounds
  • Color controls

Sydney has a free version, and you’ll have access to a lot of vital features.

With that said, the pro license only costs $69 per year, or $169 for a lifetime license. The upgrade will allow you to take things to the next level with extra page options, templates, WooCommerce, video headers, and more.

You can also pay $389 for a lifetime license for all of the company’s podcast WordPress themes.

It’s a good idea for most freelancers and small businesses.

#5 – Foodie Pro Review — The Best for Food Bloggers

This compelling WordPress theme is perfect for sharing new recipes and the best cooking tips with your online audience.

Minimalist and clean, yet offering loads of features and specific design choices, you can’t go wrong with Foodie Pro.

Consisting of the Genesis Framework—both secure and search-engine-optimized—Foodie Pro offers an almost countless number of color and typography options.

You’ll be able to upload your brand’s logo quickly, and a selection of pre-built templates only helps speed things up if you’re in a hurry to launch.

Other features of Foodie Pro include:

  • Customizable header
  • Mobile responsive
  • Widget areas
  • Recipe index
  • Works with popular plugins
  • Child theme based on the Genesis Framework
  • WordPress customizer
  • Lightweight design

There’s no free version of Foodie Pro, but you can buy the theme and complete framework package for $129.95, which I think is a fair offer based on what you can do with it.

There’s also a Genesis Pro option for those who love the framework and want to invest further. The Genesis Pro variant includes access to additional support and every future theme the company releases.

Genesis Pro is a good choice for those with big plans and costs $360 a year.

#6 – Zakra Review — The Best for SEO

Zakra isn’t just a memorable name—no, this stylish WordPress theme will help your brand rank higher on Google.

Zakra is optimized for the largest search engines, loads quickly, and supports almost all essential SEO plugins.

One particularly impressive feature is the 50 or so demos that are pre-built and ready to go with the theme.

These demos cover multiple scenarios you may need and can be quickly set up with a one-click demo importer. From there, you’ll be able to customize the demo to your liking.

One major advantage is the speed at which you can do this, so it’s an excellent option for those short on time.

The Zakra theme also delivers:

  • Lightweight designWooCommerce integration
  • Suitable across multiple devices
  • Compatible with key page builders
  • Translation-ready theme
  • Right-to-left text direction languages
  • Dynamic, customizable areas
  • Menu styling option

Zakra is free to use, but be aware that multiple features are locked out. Once you’re happy with the theme, you can upgrade to one of the more premium packages.

There are four pricing tiers, and all of them feature the Zakra Pro extras. The following prices are for lifetime access:

  • Personal: $159 for 1 site license
  • Personal Plus: $209 for 3 site licenses plus 30+ premium starter demos and Elementor companion
  • Professional: $422 for 10 site licenses plus 30+ premium starter demos and Elementor companion
  • Developer: $454 for unlimited site licenses plus 30+ premium starter demos, Elementor companion, and future plugins

You can also choose to pay via an annual fee. I think the Personal Plus package with a lifetime subscription would be a great option for most.

#7 – Travel Way Review — The Best for Travel Bloggers

Travel Way is perfect for travel bloggers and photographers who want to show their locations’ real beauty. Travel Way is also great for travel agencies and portfolios.

With call-to-action buttons, multiple sections, and handy social icons, it’s a theme ready for the modern traveler.

The free version of Travel Way is flexible and highly customizable, with the option of setting up galleries, booking forms, services, and portfolios. There’s a huge amount you can do with this theme.

Even better, it works well with all of the major browsers, is very responsive, and offers unlimited pages for each section of your site.

Other attractive features of Travel Way include:

  • Featured sections
  • More than nine custom widgets
  • Testimonials
  • Tour packages
  • Custom sidebar areas
  • Full layout controls
  • Page builder compatible
  • Extensive slider options

The pro version features advanced custom widgets, multiple options for comment sections, more menu and logo positions, and quite a bit more.

It costs just $55 for personal use and $99 for developers, so if you’re pretty set on the theme, I wouldn’t hesitate to upgrade for the rest of the features.

What I Looked at to Find the Best WordPress Themes

Deciding on a single WordPress theme for your brand can be overwhelming. There are tons of options out there, and it can be difficult to know where to start. If you’re struggling to pick one, try thinking about the complete picture.

The first aspect to think about is whether you should get a free or paid WordPress theme. The difference isn’t just in the pricing.

A free WordPress theme can offer a lot to the right person, but it’s worth knowing some of the drawbacks. The main one is the lack of ongoing support for that specific theme, which, in most cases, can mean you’re left tracking down the original creator’s email for help when something breaks.

Far from ideal.

Not to mention that the same free themes can pop up on many websites, taking away originality from your branding.

But you can usually try out a theme for free before deciding to invest in the full paid version, so they do have their uses.

Paid themes are a better bet for brands in general, though. They generally include regular updates and support, higher levels of customization, and higher-quality code.

Another thing to mention is that WordPress.org, or ‘self-hosted WordPress,’ (as opposed to WordPress.com) is the best bet for most businesses as it gives a greater level of control and is cheaper overall. This extends to themes, availability, and customization.

With that said, I’ve seen some top brands on WordPress.com, or ‘hosted WordPress,’ with some genuinely dazzling themes, too.

If you’re in doubt, I’d still say go for WordPress.org.

Other key things to think about are the following:

Theme Functionality

Thinking about functionality is very important. I’m talking about what you need a site to do to conduct business.

Do you need social media icons that link out to brand accounts? How about a comment section or forum, and what about the e-commerce side of things like a shop?

In other words, you need to think hard about the features you need.

The great news is that WordPress plugins can add a significant number of extras whenever you want, but it’s worth looking into the functionality of a theme you like.

For example, specific themes might be coded in such a way that adding a forum could prove difficult.

If you like a theme, make sure you’ve done your research before buying it and that it can support your core needs.

Site Responsiveness

Is your new theme going to look good on any screen size?

A mobile reader needs to have the same complete experience as a desktop user, so any good WordPress theme will adapt to this on a case-by-case basis. Don’t forget that Google has made it mandatory for sites to be mobile responsive, which can affect your rankings in a big way.

Mobile traffic is increasing every year, so a responsive WordPress theme is essential. Most WordPress themes include this as standard, but not all do, and free themes often don’t. Think carefully about this when researching.

Page Builders

A good page builder will allow you to drag and drop to create pages with little fuss.

Most WordPress themes come bundled with page builders, but not all of them do. Some themes may even use a bespoke page builder that could slow down a site with unwanted code.

Ideally, you want a WordPress theme optimized to work with the best page builders, particularly if you have a preference.

You could find a WordPress theme that provides almost everything you want, only to find it’s incompatible with your favorite builder. Or buy one that features a proprietary builder, but it’s just not very good. Too late, though, because you’ve already purchased it.

Browser Support

A theme can load smoothly and look beautiful on your browser, but what about on your customer’s browser? It’s worth noting that not all themes will work correctly on every browser, so a good deal of testing is a sound idea.

You can usually check a browser’s compatibility under a WordPress theme’s details, but the developers won’t always list this. In that case, test it yourself.

It’s as simple as downloading a few of the most popular browsers, loading up your site with its new theme, and seeing what works and what doesn’t.

More often than not, you’ll find an issue or two that only occurs on a specific browser. I’ve seen pages breaking inexplicably on certain browsers while others were fine. This is often an overlooked area, so it’s prudent to get ahead of any potential issues.

Summary

There are tons of beautiful WordPress themes out there, and my list has given you just a snapshot of everything you can do on the platform. But many themes work better for specific uses.

The picks on the list offer some of the best themes available in their respective areas:

  1. Jayla — The best for online shops
  2. Astra — The best for beginners
  3. Tusant — The best for podcast creators
  4. Sydney — The best for freelancers
  5. Foodie Pro — The best for food bloggers
  6. Zakra — The best for SEO
  7. Travel Way — The best fortravel bloggers

Whether you’re a freelancer, travel blogger, podcaster, or you want to launch an online shop, WordPress has got you covered.

The best part is how much you can do with a single theme, so dive in and get started.

The sky really is the limit.

Best WordPress Booking Plugins

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Does your business book appointments online? Are you looking for the best WordPress booking plugins to help you streamline your workflow and increase customer satisfaction?

An effective booking plugin can be an essential part of your business puzzle. Once you find the right one, you eliminate the possibility of losing customers to faulty or less than ideal plugins that don’t do the job well.

In this guide, I share some of the best WordPress booking plugins to help you manage all your appointments with ease. Once you’ve read through my top choices, you’ll be able to make the best decision for your unique business needs.

Let’s get started. 

#1 – StartBooking Review — The Best for Service Appointment Scheduling

StartBooking offers a powerful WordPress booking plugin you can easily download and install to manage all your service appointment needs. 

They offer a clean customer-facing interface that allows them to choose from a pre-defined list of services with available times and dates. Once they’re ready to book their appointment, StartBooking effectively captures all their information, so they’re ready to go. This makes StartBooking an exceptional option for WordPress users in the service industry that want to offer their customers a clean and professional online booking experience they can rely on. 

If you want to capture online payments as your customers book their appointments, StartBooking integrates with Stripe for easy payment processing.

Some of their best booking features:

  • Offers a fully customizable booking plugin so that you configure it to book appointments exactly how you want
  • Easily integrates with Google Calendar
  • Manage how customers view their booking options and services from your WordPress dashboard
  • Book and manage an unlimited number of appointments
  • Get access to crucial booking analytics, so you always know how you’re doing month to month
  • Assign different staff members to different appointment offerings
  • Define booking times that prevent you from overlapping appointments
  • The ability to handle class and group booking

Pricing tiers include:

  • Individual — $12 per month for unlimited sites and appointments
  • Business — $28 per month for unlimited sites and appointments

Both tiers offer custom fields, blocking dates, and customizable emails. The Business plan is better for a team with multiple calendars and comes with advanced reported and priority support. Try StartBooking free here for 14 days. 

#2 – Bookly Pro Review — The Best for Use with Staff Members

A plugin like Bookly Pro is a top choice if you work with staff members and need plenty of assignable backend booking features. The plugin was downloaded over 34,000 times by businesses that want a strong handle on their booking workflow.

With Bookly Pro, you can enable your staff to stay on top of upcoming appointments with automated notifications and let them know when they’ve scored a purchase. Bookly lets you connect each of your employees and their Google Calendars to any number of services available for booking. 

This enables you to manage your team and multiple bookings without the potential confusion that can come with it. It’s the feature that makes Bookly an immensely effective booking plugin if you’re managing a growing team

Though Bookly offers a free plugin version, if you want access to support and advanced booking features, you’re better off making their one-time payment for full access to everything they offer. 

Some of its best features: 

  • Gorgeous booking forms and front-facing design
  • Fully responsive booking features that work on any screen size
  • Integrate with Google Calendars and WooCommerce
  • Accept payments through a variety of payment gateways, including Stripe and PayPal
  • Built-in analytics with plenty of booking stats
  • Offers the ability to connect to a number of third-party systems using Zapier

Bookly Pro costs $89, a one-time payment that includes future updates and six months of support. You can also pay an additional $31.50 to extend support for up to 12 months. Buy Bookly Pro now.

#3 – Booking & Appointment Plugin For WooCommerce Review — The Best for Use with WooCommerce

The Booking & Appointment Plugin For WooCommerce truly does it all when it comes to booking just about anything online once you integrate and use it with WooCommerce (a robust WordPress ecommerce store plugin). 

With it, you can handle hotel bookings, fitness appointments, party rentals, apartment rentals, and a ton more once you get it configured with your WooCommerce shop. 

The Booking & Appointment Plugin For WooCommerce lets you set up single-day or multiple-day bookings for equipment rentals or hotel reservations with just a few clicks. If you already have a WooCommerce shop set up through WordPress, adding the booking and appointment plugin can completely transform your shopping experience with a booking and appointment interface that’s easy to use in both backend and frontend views. 

Some of the Booking & Appointment Plugin’s best features:

  • Syncs with Google Calendar for both admin users and customers
  • Easily set up and automate SMS reminders
  • Enable time slots that configure to customer’s local time zones
  • Capable of multilingual displays in more than 60 languages
  • See all your penned in appointments in either calendar or list views
  • You can setup booking for multiple products on multiple dates

For a license, you’ll pay an annual subscription fee. The tiers are:

  • Starter — $119 for one store
  • Business — $199 for five stores
  • Enterprise — $249 for unlimited stores

All three licenses come with all of the core features, including flexible labels, exclusion dates, custom booking calendar, multi-language capabilities, and timezone conversions. Get started with The Booking & Appointment Plugin For WooCommerce here. 

#4 – Bookingo Review — The Best for Scheduling Training & Classes

Recent times have taken a lot of aspects of business remote. Whether you teach classes or lead training, you’re likely doing a combination of in-person and videoconferencing sessions.

That’s the situation that Bookingo is perfect for—maintaining and growing your teaching or training business.

This WordPress booking plugin from QuanticaLabs is tailor-made for anyone who offers courses on a recurring basis. It gives you everything you need to post classes and session easily, with customizable fields that allow you to adjust the plugin to your industry needs.

By default, you’re able to start and end dates, duration of each course and individual class, participant limits, recurring dates, location (or link to a virtual course), instructor contact details, and any additional information.

And, you get unlimited booking forms, courses, and course groups.

That makes it fantastic for companies whose whole purview is training or education. Segment course sets by instructor or topic and book as many as you’d like.

Better still, if your training service is growing wildly, you can even support payment in any global currency. So, your course on how to get ahead or add a skill can accommodate students from all around the world.

There are boatloads of other features already included in Bookingo and the devs at QuanticaLabs are constantly updating the plugin to add more and address user needs.

You can get Bookingo for $40 from EnvatoMarket, which comes with six months of support. You can easily extend that support by another year for an additional $13.13.

#5 – BirchPress Review — The Best for Easily Capturing Payments

BirchPress is a reliable WordPress booking plugin that works great if you want to capture PayPal and credit card payments hassle-free. This makes it easy to process payments without having to look for a third-party payment gateway that’ll complicate your life. 

If you’d rather not use PayPal as your payment gateway, you can capture payments through other available gateways with WooCommerce integration.

Especially if you operate in the healthcare industry, fitness, automotive, salon and beauty, or the health and wellness space, BirchPress helps make the process of scheduling and keeping up with appointments easy right from your WordPress dashboard. 

Even if you’re constantly taking appointments and collecting payments, you won’t always be available. With BirchPress’s holiday blocking feature, you choose which dates are unavailable for booking throughout the year. 

The straightforward features BirchPress offers, along with their ability to sync with more than one payment option, make them a top booking plugin for online appointment management. 

Some useful BirchPress features include:

  • You can embed booking features on any page or post with their shortcodes
  • Integrates with Google Calendar, Outlook, iPhone, or Android to import and export appointment dates
  • Easily send reminders and emails when someone schedules, changes, or cancels an appointment
  • Customize their appointments to your needs by configuring sign up forms accordingly
  • Developer friendly plugin with advanced customization features

Once you make the one-time payment in the tier that suits your business budget, you can quickly start handling your booking needs. Here is the pricing tier breakdown:

  • Personal — $99 
  • Business — $199 
  • Business+ — $249

All plans come with one year of support and updates, automated email notifications, and holiday blocking. The Business+ package is the only one to support WooCommerce integration. Start using BirchPress today, or go through a live demo here.

What I Looked At To Find The Best WordPress Booking Plugins

Booking plugins come with lots of different features that can strengthen how you run your business appointments. Any booking plugin worth using will offer a great user experience, integrate well with your WordPress site, and streamline the process of accepting and organizing appointments.

Still, you’ll want to take it a step further and look into some key criteria to enable you to choose the best plugin that will deliver what you need. 

To choose a plugin that works for you, make sure you’re clear on your business goals to know exactly what you need a plugin for.

Are you booking online sales calls with prospective customers? Are you booking local in-person appointments? Will you need to capture payment information upon booking? Are you booking appointments or reservations?

Some plugins come with robust features like drop-down menus for multiple schedules, the ability to revise and re-schedule appointments, a dashboard that allows you to easily view and manage your calendar, or even automated appointment reminders triggered upon booking. 

Here are a few other things I considered when researching and choosing the best WordPress booking plugins. Use these factors when doing your research and selecting the best for you.

Online Payments

Some plugins are designed to accept online payment solutions without having to use a third-party payment gateway. This can be useful to you as a business owner if you require payment upon booking. 

Being able to capture payments within your booking plugin can go a long way in saving you time. This way, you don’t need to integrate additional plugins on your site that could potentially slow it down.

Calendar Views

Would booking appointments on your site be made easier if your plugin offered a calendar view for you and your customers? Using a plugin with calendar views can be a great option if you offer appointments over a span of time or if your business is service-based. 

Mobile-Friendly

Your booking plugin won’t do you much good if you can’t easily capture appointments from a mobile device. A vast amount of online traffic is generated through mobile as opposed to the standard desktop view.

You’re always better off with booking plugins that are up to date and offer mobile compatible views. Using booking plugins that haven’t been recently reviewed or updated to be compatible with the latest WordPress version can work against you if you aren’t careful. 

Conclusion

This might have been a ton of information to digest in one go. I reviewed a list of the top booking plugins for WordPress you can start using right now that go beyond the basics.

To help you choose the best WordPress booking plugin, here’s a quick recap of the plugins I recommend:

  1. StartBooking – The best for service appointment bookings
  2. Bookly Pro – The best for using with staff members
  3. Booking & Appointment Plugin For WooCommerce – The best for use with WooCommerce
  4. Bookingo – The best for scheduling training and classes
  5. BirchPress – The best for easily capturing payments

Now it’s your turn. Has there been a booking plugin that’s worked better for you than others? Let me know in the comments below.