WooCommerce: 10 Most Popular Free Plugins

WooCommerce is one of the most popular eCommerce platforms that allows you to launch your online business, build high-functionality online stores for your clients, or take your brick-and-mortar store online.  

Powering over 28.19% of all online stores, WooCommerce’s versatility and open-source nature allow businesses to build their dream store, add unlimited products and consumers, take orders, and increase sales.

The core WooCommerce plugin holds 68% of the usage distribution – the highest on the internet. However, despite its popularity, the official WooCommerce plugin lacks several features you might need for your eCommerce store. But to make up for that, it offers several plugins that allow you to enhance your store’s functionality and improve customer experience. 

But choosing from over 4228 WooCommerce plugins from WordPress.org can get overwhelming. So, to make your job easier, we’ve hand-picked the best free WooCommerce plugins you can use on your store to take it to the next level. Let’s dive in!

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WooCommerce: Google Ads, Merchant Center, Adsense, Facebook Pixel Integrations

While organic strategies like SEO are great for increasing traffic and conversions for your store, sprinkling some paid advertising into your marketing efforts can give it a much-needed push. 

Paid ads offer an excellent way to increase your WooCommerce store’s reach, exposure, and sales. In fact, a survey suggests that the total digital ad spending will reach a whopping $455.30 billion by the end of 2021 – this number shows the increasing importance of paid ads and why you should leverage them for your business. 

But whether you display ads on your store to earn extra revenue or create ad campaigns to market your products, managing ads can be challenging and time-consuming. 

Fortunately for you, there are some fantastic ad automation plugins that can help you create, run, and track ad campaigns, all from scratch. 

This article will explore some WooCommerce plugins that you can use to automate your advertising campaigns. But first, let’s take a quick look at how these plugins work. 

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WooCommerce: 5 Ways To Drive Sales In Your Store

The primary goal of your WooCommerce store is to sell, right?

You’ve probably got some snazzy marketing campaigns running, are working to sharpen your SEO tactics, and are using social media to bring more visitors to your store. But, while driving traffic to your site is important, there’s another key metric you need to keep in mind: your conversion rate. After all, what’s the point of bringing visitors to your store if they don’t end up buying anything?

It’s a no-brainer that more traffic is useless if it’s not bringing you more conversions. The key, then, is to focus on doing more with the shop visitors you already have

This is where website analytics (such as those collected and stored by Google Analytics and Metorik) can be a game changer. Read on for 5 CRO hacks for WooCommerce users.

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Elementor: How to Make an Online Course Website

Almost any blogger who wants to scale his personal brand (and revenue) is simply obliged to look at online courses. 

The Elementor Page Builder plugin is attractive because it does not require knowledge of the code or additional programming languages.

This article is a brief tutorial on how to create an online courses website using Elementor. We will list the 5 steps required to create a WordPress website for selling online courses.

Thanks to the WooCommerce plugin, you can then easily set up an online store, and use different templates to make this store attractive in terms of design.

So, if you are going to make your online courses website with Elementor, where do you start?

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WooCommerce: Include Custom WP Page @ Thank You Page

Yes, you can redirect users to a custom thank you page (but please note all your ecommerce Google Analytics tracking will be skipped…). Yes, you can add content to the default thank you page, for example a Twitter “share your purchase” box. And yes, you can even “include” content from another WordPress page!

Basically, in this article, you will see how to write custom content for your WooCommerce Thank You page as a separate WordPress Page, so that you can use WYSIWYG, Gutenberg or a page builder to create something unique, and then ask WooCommerce to “get it” and “include” such page inside the default order-received endpoint.

If you’re not sure what I mean, try taking a look at the two screenshots below. Then, copy the simple snippet and see the result!

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WooCommerce: Boost Your Sales With Advanced Analytics

Product recommendations is an efficient and proven way to boost your WooCommerce sales.

The downside is that it could be a very time-consuming activity to bundle products manually, as well as the fact that it is not always the logical “pairing” that will generate the most sales.

The way forward is to utilize AI (Artificial Intelligence) and let analytical data models do the work for you.

Meet Engage, an AI-powered product recommendation engine. The type of recommendation vary a bit depending on the page your visitor is viewing. This is mainly because the recommendation model needs input to function properly (e.g. the first time a new visitor lands on your homepage, the model doesn’t know anything about their behavior and therefore it can’t provide recommendations.

But as the user interacts with the website the model picks up on behavioral patterns and is then able to provide better recommendations.

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WooCommerce: 7 Easy Ways to Increase Your Sales

WooCommerce is an awesome WordPress plugin that allows you to create a custom shop no matter what you sell. Because of its endless customization options, your shop won’t look like any other website out there.

However, when it’s time to increase your website sales and optimize your conversion rate, options, snippets and plugins can leave you feeling confused and overwhelmed.

Instead of getting stressed out and giving up, here’s a curated list of strategies and plugins that can give your WooCommerce shop a higher conversion rate.

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WooCommerce: How to Watch Orders & Data in Real-Time on TV?

Maybe you run a busy WooCommerce store from your warehouse. Alternatively, you have a spare TV screen in the office and don’t know what to do with it. Even better, you’ve been asked to show orders in real time, as they come in. Possibly, you’ve looked for a way to show data and statistics in real time without refreshing your Google Analytics dashboard or the WooCommerce Reports section.

What we’re talking about here is specifically finding a way to show your WooCommerce real-time orders, custom stats dashboards and custom graphs on a TV screen.

And today this is possible thanks to a new feature released by Bryce Adams, founder and developer of Metorik (of which I’m an active customer as you can see from the screenshots).

We already covered the ins and outs of advanced WooCommerce tracking (i.e. the WooCommerce default reports are quite poor, so I’ve introduced you to 2 alternatives there), so I don’t want to repeat myself in this blog post.

So, how do you enable real-time tracking and order notifications on a TV screen? Continue reading WooCommerce: How to Watch Orders & Data in Real-Time on TV?

WooCommerce: 27 SEO Tips (For Non-Techies)

I had the pleasure to speak at WordCamp Milano 2018, and I had a blast! I believe the topic was pretty interesting, so you all deserve a long post recap with actionable tips and screenshots to understand basic WooCommerce SEO (video of the presentation will be available soon).

The following WooCommerce Search Engine Optimization tips are mostly non technical, and are aimed at WordPress and WooCommerce users who never heard of “schema”, “long tail”, “301” and “hreflang” (although if you did, please have a read anyway, make sure to post a comment and contribute to this post with your expertise).

The thing is – SEO is never going to die. Besides, Google & co. constantly improve their website ranking algorithms. This means what you learned 5 years ago in regard to SEO might not work today, and what you learn today might not work in 2 years time… you get the point.

In this blog post, we will analyze and study 27 evergreen SEO factors for WooCommerce websites. These should be applied (or not applied, as there are many “not to do” tips as well) to your ecommerce website at all costs if you believe you deserve better ranking (who doesn’t?). And as they’re evergreen, they’re likely not to go away for a few years at least 🙂

So, let’s get started!

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WooCommerce: How to Increase Average Order Value?

AOV a.k.a. Average Order Value is one of the most important ecommerce metrics. It describes the average order total in a given period of time. If this year your WooCommerce website converted 150 orders and made $30,000 in revenue, your AOV for this year is $30,000/150 = $200 (i.e. on average, you can expect each order to be $200).

FYI, the meaning of AOV is the same for any ecommerce platform, but in this article we’ll talk just about WooCommerce. In our opinion WooCommerce is a better, more cost-effective solution than Shopify or other counterparts.

If you don’t know what your WooCommerce store AOV is, immediately go to WordPress Dashboard > WooCommerce > Reports > Orders > Sales by Date > Year and divide “net sales in this period” by the number of “orders placed”. But be careful – those reports are sometimes not correct (I know WooCommerce is working on this at the moment). Mine is giving me AOV = €2… and I know that’s not right.

Your best bet is your Google Analytics account (as long as you’re using the official WooCommerce – Google Analytics integration) and/or your Metorik reports (here’s an article you should read if you need to know how to install reliable WooCommerce tracking, reporting, filtering and segmentinghttps://businessbloomer.com/advanced-woocommerce-tracking-analytics-reports-exports-segmentation/). My Metorik dashboard tells me my WooCommerce website AOV for this year is €233 so far – I can trust this one for sure.

So the question is: how can we get our WooCommerce customers to spend more? Well, here’s a list of WooCommerce plugin alternatives you can install right now to boost your AOV.

In fairness, who wouldn’t want some extra revenue? 🙂

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WooCommerce: Disable Tracking if Order Failed @ Thank You Page

The “woocommerce_thankyouhook fires on the Thank You page once an order is placed. Most tracking functions like Google Analytics, affiliate commission plugins and other WooCommerce extensions rely on “woocommerce_thankyou” to run their code.

Problem is – “woocommerce_thankyou” is ALSO called if an order fails (i.e. payment did not go through). Now, unless the plugin is smart enough in its own functions to exclude failed orders, which doesn’t happen often I’m afraid, we need to find a way NOT to run “woocommerce_thankyou” if an order fails. Case study: a client uses a third party affiliate plugin, this plugin hooks into “woocommerce_thankyou“, but they don’t want to calculate conversions when an order fails.

So here you go!

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WooCommerce: How To Do Keyword Research?

This is a guest post by Helga Moreno of Ahrefs – if you like the article, make sure to thank her in the comments!

I’m sure all of you know that keyword research is one of the most important SEO activities that is closely related to your WooCommerce website marketing success.

I also have no doubt that you have already studied a heap of articles that include step-by-step instructions on doing expert keyword research aimed at ranking high for thousands of targeted search terms and seriously improving your traffic from Google.

But there is a strange thing about it. Every article gives a bit different instructions. I don’t argue the competence of their authors. The reason for such kind of discrepancy is hidden in the fact that there is no universal approach to doing keyword research.

So what should be taken into account when you do keyword research?

  • Your website’s authority, number of pages, quality of content, etc.
  • Your goals and objectives – branding, exposure, traffic, leads, sales
  • Your budget, resources, and deadlines
  • Your industry and competitive landscape

I guess now you understand the reason why it was so hard to follow the steps of the guides you stumbled upon before.

We will take a different route. I mean I will give you a kind of keyword research framework that you will easily adapt to the goals of your WooCommerce install.

You’ll see that the tactics and methods described below will utterly improve your traffic coming from Google. Continue reading WooCommerce: How To Do Keyword Research?

WooCommerce Advanced Tracking: Analytics, Reports, Exports, Segmentation

If your WooCommerce store already generates a few orders per month, then it’s probably the right time to step up and start analyzing your ecommerce data.

Despite the “WooCommerce > Reports” tab within the WordPress dashboard can give you sales figures, stock takes and customer lists – we all know that’s a very basic, limited functionality. It gives you CSV export but no automation. There are no filters and no segments. It’s accurate but still not enough.

Data plays a vital role on your WooCommerce website. If you can get access to a wider range of figures, reports, screens, calculations, exports, filters, integrations, then it’s very likely you can understand how to increase your profits.

Data can help you identify problems (hello, cart abandonment – biggest responsible for low conversion rates), can help you select popular products for your cross-sell and up-sell strategy, can give you a hint on how to improve the user experience and have them check out faster – as well as giving you a hand analyzing patterns, performances and customer behavior.

In this (very long) post, we’ll take a look at ways to gather ecommerce data beyond the default “Reports” section, generate email digests, print advanced reports, filter and segment orders and customers, and much more. I will be referring to the two biggest tracking software for WooCommerce: Google Analytics and Metorik. Continue reading WooCommerce Advanced Tracking: Analytics, Reports, Exports, Segmentation

WooCommerce: What Are the Must-Use Plugins?

Ah, if only there were a “simple” WooCommerce project! We would all use the same plugins, copy and paste the same content and the world would be all the same 🙂

So, let’s be clear about this question. There is no must-use plugins list for WooCommerce, as each website is custom and therefore needs different functionalities.

Having said that, many WooCommerce developers use a few identical plugins on almost every project, and this post contains an answer to that. Continue reading WooCommerce: What Are the Must-Use Plugins?

WooCommerce: How Top Brands Design Product Category Pages

eCommerce Category Description

Selling on the web is a highly competitive game. There is no shortage of both customers and competitors. Big companies crush little companies every day. But that doesn’t mean smaller websites doesn’t have any chance.

Smaller companies can beat larger companies if they focus on the right things. For that, you always need to look for opportunities and act smart when it comes to promoting your brand and products.

Leveraging search engines is one of the cheapest ways to bring customers to your website. For that, you need to make sure you are fulfilling the search query. Since Google is always looking for the best fit & best experience for users based on their query.

Category pages or product listing pages are key hub pages in any E-commerce store. Products tend to come and go but categories stay. So it’s better to build up your category pages.

For example, if you are selling necklaces, you have more than one necklace for sure. So rather than 5 necklace pages competing for the same Necklace terms, optimize the category page for necklaces while optimizing the products for specific necklace style (e.g. Crystal Necklaces). Your primary focus should be ranking your category pages for specific key terms.

Most online stores neglect their category pages and organize them in a way that it does more harm than good. If optimized correctly they can bring in good traffic for top level keywords and reap the rewards for months.

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WooCommerce: 85 Free Plugins for Every Challenge

free woocommerce plugins

WooCommerce is one of the most popular WordPress plugin for adding eCommerce or cart functionality to a WordPress website. According to recent research by aheadWorks, WooCommerce now accounts for 26.5% of the total eCommerce market share. And recent acquisition by Automattic indicates that it has a great future ahead.

WooCommerce is well known for its huge flexibility and vast customization options. There are hundreds of WooCommerce plugins or Extensions available for extending the functionality. If you want some recommendations in this direction, check out some of the best free WooCommerce plugins (sorted by number of active install).

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WordPress: 11 Things to Consider When Selecting a Theme

With seemingly thousands of Free and Premium WordPress themes out there, it can be tricky to pick the right WordPress theme for your business.

While launching a website seems easy, hardest part is finding a theme that meets your content requirement. There is not a single WordPress theme that would meet all the needs of all website owners. Every theme is built for a specific purpose and has its own strengths and weaknesses. Your job is to find the theme that meets your business’s needs.

While there are themes that do it all, they tend to be heavy and bloated because they are designed to meet the requirements of a wide range of website owners. In other words, they do everything but specialize in nothing.

Choosing these resource-consuming and feature-heavy WordPress themes is like getting operated on by a surgeon who has nothing but a Swiss army knife to perform all surgical tasks.

Finding the right WordPress theme requires more than just picking a theme based on look. In this article, we will provide some tips on what to look out for when choosing a WordPress theme. We will also recommend some free tools to help you check a theme’s credibility.

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