We’ve got the top WordPress plugins that parenting magazine publishers should know about.
Parenting magazines serve as a trusted resource for families, with content designed to empower moms and dads. The readers of parenting magazines are incredibly digitally savvy, making it especially important for parenting and family magazines to have strong online footprints.
What makes a great website for a parenting magazine? The most successful publishers right now are adding educational and informational features to their websites. Many of these features also happen to serve as valuable revenue generators. School and camp directories, community events calendars, and virtual courses are just a few examples of the ways that publishers are meeting the needs of their audiences while also generating additional revenue from their websites.
The best parenting websites are almost universally run on the WordPress platform. WordPress is the most powerful content management system in the world, used by publishers of all shapes and sizes. In fact, it’s been said that WordPress now powers more than 30% of the internet.
Of course, launching a website on WordPress is only the beginning. To achieve a higher level of professional success, parenting magazine publishers need to take advantage of all that online publishing has to offer. That means not only integrating directories, video, and calendars into their websites, but also finding ways to monetize these opportunities.
Publishers who run their websites on the WordPress platform have access to thousands of powerful plugins, which they can use to quickly customize their websites or add powerful features. Plugins are a piece of software that contains a group of functions that can extend the functionality or add new features to a website.
We’ve put together this guide with the best WordPress plugins for parenting magazine publishers.
Top WordPress Plugins for Parenting Magazine Publishers
1. Yoast SEO
There is a reason why Yoast tops nearly every list of the best WordPress plugins for publishers. This SEO plugin is an incredibly useful tool for website optimization.
Publishers can follow the steps outlined by Yoast to improve their page rank on Google and Bing. With Yoast SEO Premium, they can also optimize content for keywords, keyphrases, and related keywords. Yoast will send out warnings when key pages on a publisher’s website haven’t been changed or added to in six months, signalling to the publisher that it’s time for an update. The Yoast plugin works in WordPress’ classic editor and in Gutenberg.
2. Pico
Pico’s WordPress plugin is recommended by Web Publisher PRO for parenting magazine publishers that want to sell access to online content. Pico’s tools give publishers a way to set up email pop-ups and landing pages to register website visitors. Subscription paywalls, membership programs, and checkout flows are all optimized with Pico. This is the only subscription tool with a built-in CRM designed to help magazine publishers keep track of both who is paying for content and who is about to pay for content. For parenting magazines, specifically, Pico’s group subscriptions feature makes it easier to sell to schools, PTAs, local businesses, and other large organizations.
3. RafflePress
Does your publication frequently host raffles, giveaways, or other online contests? If so, then RafflePress is a WordPress plugin you can’t afford to miss. The RafflePress plugin comes with a drag-and-drop giveaway builder, along with multiple templates that publishers can use to design their own online contests. Visitors are prompted to submit their email addresses to enter online giveaways, and publishers can use that information for follow up marketing efforts. Publishers can also connect their social media accounts to RafflePress. The plugin itself is free, however publishers will have to sign up for paid plans for additional features.
4. Constant Contact Forms
Email has become a powerful tool for publishers in the past few years. Every parenting magazine should have an email newsletter that’s sent out to subscribers on a regular basis. Constant Contact is a top email automation platform. The company offers a useful WordPress plugin that publishers can use to collect email addresses from website visitors who are interested in receiving their newsletters or subscribing to other website content. Sign up forms built with Constant Contact Forms are completely customized, based on the data fields that work best for the publisher. This plugin is available to all WordPress users, including those publishers that don’t have Constant Contact accounts.
5. OptinMonster
What do you know about conversion rate optimization? OptinMonster is one of the best plugins for converting abandoning website visitors into email subscribers. Publishers can choose from templates to create customizable popups, slide-ins, and announcement bars on their websites. These features can even be customized for individual users, so the right message appears at the optimal time. A free version of the OptinMonster plugin is available to parenting and family magazine publishers.
6. MemberPress
One of the advantages that parenting publishers have going for them is that they generally have an audience that’s interested in learning. This makes for a lucrative opportunity for parenting magazine publishers who opt to build their own online courses and virtual family communities. MemberPress is a WordPress plugin that makes it easier to build these communities. Publishers can create their own subscription programs and they can restrict access to certain types of content based on a particular user’s tier or level. MemberPress integrates with most payment solutions.
7. UpdraftPlus
Is your developer actively managing your backups and working to keep your website secure? If not, you may want to look into a plugin like UpdraftPlus. UpdraftPlus is a WordPress plugin that publishers use to set up automated website backups and store backups in remote locations online. In the event of a total website crash, publishers can restore their sites from the backups that UpdraftPlus has saved.
Although the base UpdraftPlus plugin is free, publishers will have to pay for a plan if they want priority support and other security features. Parenting magazine publishers who have additional concerns should consider opting for a full-service web development firm like Web Publisher PRO in lieu of a plugin like UpdraftPlus.
Depending on your magazine, you may not need to use all of these WordPress plugins. However, if you are looking for ways to optimize your website and generate more revenue, then it’s worth trying out a few of these plugins and seeing how they work. A web development firm like Web Publisher PRO can help get you started.
If you’re looking for even more WordPress plugins to try, check out Top WordPress Plugins for Publishers.
