More websites in the world use WordPress than any other content management system. It should come as no surprise that WordPress has taken over the world of online brand management, as the platform provides more out-of-the-box flexibility than any other solution in existence. A vanilla WordPress installation comes jam-packed with many features that allow webmasters and bloggers to reach their audiences in a variety of ways, but there are plenty of add-ons and solutions that can take it to the next level. Today, we’ll discuss a few WordPress plug-ins that can come in handy for e-commerce, lead generation and general brand management.

Visual Composer

WordPress provides plenty of awesome functionality to those who know how to use it. With that being said, the customization of themes and templates can be difficult for those without prior coding experience. Visual Composer is an excellent plug-in that can be purchased for $34 and that can be used to customize virtually any element of a website with ease. Whether you want to tweak with headers, footers, rows, colours or anything else, the easy-to-use Visual Composer allows you to drag-and-drop changes into place in a matter of seconds. Best of all, it is totally WYSIWYG: you’ll never have to worry about the preview looking different than the end result! VC really is ideal for pinging websites with countless customizations in no time at all.

bbPress

A truly successful website will have an interactive feel to it. Static websites may be OK for posting bulletins and news, but interactive websites that facilitate the development of tight-knit communities are the ones that really leave their mark. bbPress is a complete and versatile plug-in for WordPress that allows you to quickly enable the use of forums on your website. Designed specifically to work with WordPress, bbPress is a much better solution for integration with your website than any standalone or third-party solution. You’ll enjoy all of the usual features that you’d expect with forum software, but with none of the hassle that comes with ensuring integration and SEO functionality with your website.

Jetpack

There are still many people who host their WordPress websites via the company’s domain, which provides many unique features not found in the standalone software. However, the Jetpack plug-in is a solution that aims to fix that. With many different features included, you’ll be able to monitor your website’s traffic, customize and optimize all of your images, plugin all of your social media profiles effortlessly, and more. The primary goal of the Jetpack plug-in is to improve overall integration of your website and the experience your visitors have, with the end result being more traffic. Many webmasters are pinging websites they own with this great plug-in: don’t be afraid to try it out yourself!

Whether you want to improve image quality, foster community discussion or get the most efficiency out of redesigning your website’s elements, you’ll definitely find utility in these three WordPress plug-ins.