When it comes to website building, we live in the age of WordPress-based websites. These days it'd be hard to find a coach, consultant, or speaker whose website is not built on WordPress.
There are many reasons why WordPress is the choice site-builder for 95%+ of smart small business owners:
- Super easy to build - once you sign up for hosting*, you can have your website up in under 10 minutes
. - Free and premium (paid) themes allow you to instantly build a website that looks like a million bucks
. - Once you build it (or someone builds it for you), adding content is really easy
. - The WordPress Plugins allow you to empower your website with all types of magical abilities:
- social media integration
- automated (or semi-automated) appointment booking integration (can have it as a bubble or other pop-up at the right bottom corner of each of your pages; or wherever and however you want it)
- eCommerce integration - create beautiful products or service listings; create beautiful membership level Pricing Tables; etc.
- Membership capabilities
- ... and, really, whatever a mammoth $50,000 website can do, you can also achieve with WordPress with a (9 times out of 10) free plugin
♥ If you are new to WordPress, to add any of the plugins mentioned below, just go to your Dashboard, hover on Plugins, click on Add New, then search for these plugins in the search box::
NEW HERE? Here are a few articles that you might find useful:
*No worries, they open in a new tab
Life Coach Training: 7 Steps to Positioning Yourself as an Authority in Your Niche
10 Marketing Activities to Introduce Life Coaching to Your Ideal Clients
The Difference Between Sales, Marketing, & Clients-Enrollment
How to Get Life Coaching Clients, PART 1 – 12 Habits of Highly Successful Life Coaches
12 Must-Have WordPress Plugins that'll Transform Your Website into a Clients-Enrollment Powerhouse
Here are the most popular and most functionality-booster plugins:
-
- Classic Editor - This is popular for newbies and for WordPress veterans who like to keep things simple. Yes, as I mentioned above, it's easy to add content to WordPress sites, but after the (not-so-recent) WordPress updates, things got a bit messier. The Classic Editor allows you to revert to the old simple WordPress editor; though, I think it's worth learning the new system OR add the Elementor or Beaver Builder Page-Builder Plugin (see #2, below).
.
- Elementor OR Beaver Builder WYSIWYG Editors - These are the most advanced front-end drag & drop wordpress page builders - or a WYSIWYG editors ("What You See is What You Get” editor) - that'll allow you to edit your website on the actual web page, so you can see in real-time the changes you are creating (vs the classic editor where you work in the background and you'd have to click on View Page after each edit, to see how your page looks).♥ Both Elementor and Beaver Builder allow you to easily integrate your AutoResponder opt-in forms into your pages. See an example opt-in form built with Beaver Builder HERE!
. - Use Any Font - to me, this is one of the most crucial plugins. Strangely WordPress doesn't let you change the font size - this plugin takes care of that.
.
- ManageWP - Worker - this plugin connects your website to the free ManageWP platform where you can back-up your website (in case of a crash, you can re-build your website with one-click, in less than a minute - can save tons of headache and dozens of hours of frustration!) Can also update the plugins from within, optimize your images, and a few other functionalities. Truly a MUST-HAVE!
.
♥ This is invaluable to anyone; and especially to those who have multiple websites, as it allows us to update all our themes, plugins, and perform other admin/maintenance activities from within ManageWP.
.
- vCita [NOT Free!] - The most functional and professional Online Scheduler. Depending on which package you choose - besides adding great-looking contact forms and widgets to your web pages - you can also send invoices to your clients, keep track of all conversations with a client, use it as a simple CRM (Client Management Platform). It'll keep all client-conversations in one place, as well as see all your earnings for each client at a glance. Click HERE to test it free for 14 days!
.
- Shareaholic - Grow and Engage Your Audience - this plugin will give you the ability to place beautiful social sharing buttons and other social functionalities on your pages.
.
- Smush Image Compression and Optimization - nobody wants to wait 30 seconds for a webpage or website to load... Large images (and too many images in general) will slow down your website load speed, which will not only annoy your website visitors (and many will leave), but you also get penalized by search engines and will rank you on page 666,448. This plugin will help you optimize your images and keep your pages lean and fast-loading.
.
- Yoast SEO - probably the most popular SEO plugin, that allows you to optimize your pages and blog posts, without knowing much about SEO (it'll help you tremendously with getting found in search results.
.
- Really Simple SSL - these days if your website shows up as Not Secure many website visitors will run away, never to return (you'll see the "not secure" notice on the left side of a url, with a warning sign). This plugin allows you to enable SSL and show your website as 'secure" (with the lock closed symbol on the left side of your url)
.
- Header & Footer Scripts - while this sounds like a "dry/boring" plugin, this little bugger allows us to insert scripts that link our website to all types of power-houses, such as Google Analytics, FaceBook Chat, and many other applications.
.
- eLearnCommerce* (not searchable as described above - can download it Here!) - This plugin is one of the most powerful and easy-to-use Membership plugin that'll allow you to create your Online Coaching courses or any type of membership solutions you'd like to create. It is the plugin we use to power our membership, at www.ClientsEnrollmentFunnels.com/dashboard* this is a paid plugin; though, it has a free version as well.
.
To access this plugin and to see How You Can Create a 7 Part Course in 60-Seconds, Click Here! After you download it, you can upload it into your WordPress site by hovering on Plugins, then click on Add New, then Click on Upload Plugin:
- Classic Editor - This is popular for newbies and for WordPress veterans who like to keep things simple. Yes, as I mentioned above, it's easy to add content to WordPress sites, but after the (not-so-recent) WordPress updates, things got a bit messier. The Classic Editor allows you to revert to the old simple WordPress editor; though, I think it's worth learning the new system OR add the Elementor or Beaver Builder Page-Builder Plugin (see #2, below).
12. weForms - build contact forms, assessments, surveys, or about any type of online form you need. Click HERE to sign up for a FREE Account and download your plugin (unlimited forms capability)
These are some of the plugins that I believe will help you transform your website into an effective clients-enrollment powerhouse.
♦
CAVEAT: As a newbie, it's easy to get carried away. Be careful and don't go overboard and add dozens of plugins, as that can slow down your website, as well as occasionally some plugins don't play well together, causing glitches on your website. Just use what you need, and you'll be fine. Just know that if something "funny" is happening on your site, it's possible (and very likely) that a plugin is causing it. Disable all your plugins to see if that solves the glitch; if it does, re-enable them one by one till you find the culprit and replace it with another plugin with similar functionality, or delete it if it's non-essential.
◊
* - affiliate link to my favorite hosting company - I've been using BlueHost for 15 years. For a low annual fee, it allows you to build unlimited websites and landing pages. Many other hosting companies charge extra for each additional site you build.
** - some of the above links are affiliate links and I'll be compensated if you invest in those services. These funds allow me to create more free and low-cost content. Each of the services I mention I use in my own business and I highly recommend them.
◊
GOT QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS?
What plugins do you currently use that you really love,
and you don't see listed here? Share with us below!