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6 Must-Have WordPress Plugins for Business – ReadWrite

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Richard Parker


WordPress has been offering businesses an easy way to build corporate websites for years. And with over 58,000 plug-ins, it’s never been easier to improve functionality. If you use WordPress, we recommend adding these six must-have WordPress plugins to level up your business website.

1. Contact form: WPForms

Your customers should never struggle to contact you. If they can’t easily find a way to get in touch, they’ll bounce and you’ll lose a potential sale. Make it easy for them to reach out with the WPForms plugin.

WPForms is easy to install, and the drag & drop feature makes it simple to build contact forms, conversational forms, email subscription forms, online order forms, and payment forms. You can even create surveys and polls.

2. eCommerce integration: WooCommerce

Most Americans (around 91%) shop online or start off researching products and services online. If your website and the online experience are not up to scratch, customers will shop elsewhere.

Turn your website into a professional eCommerce store with WooCommerce, the most popular eCommerce plugin for WordPress. There’s also a suite of WooCommerce plugins that will elevate your customer’s experience, including:

  • WooCommerce Wholesale Suite for bulk buyers.
  • YITH WooCommerce Compare to allow customers to compare products.

●      YITH WooCommerce Quick View has a pop-up window so that customers can see product details and add to the cart without clicking through to the product page.

  • YITH WooCommerce Wishlist plugin so customers can save products to their wishlist.
  • WooCommerce Multilingual for translation into other languages.
  • WooCommerce PDF Invoices & Packing Slips.

3. Building landing pages: SeedProd

A good landing page can increase conversion rates by 2.35%. That’s the average rate, but some top-performing sites see conversion rates of between 5.31% and 11.45%. Even at 2.35%, imagine how much more revenue you can snag if you use landing pages to promote existing products or launch new products.

SeedProd is the number one WordPress plugin for creating effective fast-loading landing pages without hiring a website designer or programmer to write code. SeedProd has over 100 templates, color schemes, and font pairings. It features a drag-and-drop builder, section blocks for easy customization, and eye-catching headers and call-to-action buttons.

The premium subscription allows integration with several email marketing services like MailChimp and Constant Contact.

4. Customer support: Zendesk

Just as quickly as customers come, they can go. Poor customer service will drive them away. Long wait times, slow response times, lost tickets, and being shuffled from one department to another leads to frustrated customers. Inefficient customer service can kill all the good work you do in attracting and converting customers.

Every business should invest in customer relationship management software. A CRM system will centralize your customer data so that agents can easily view a customer’s history. WordPress has partnered with Zendesk to provide seamless integration between the two platforms.

With Zendesk, whether a customer uses your website’s contact form, live chat, or posts a query in the comment section of a blog post, all queries flow into Zendesk’s ticketing system. All tickets are accessible in your WordPress dashboard, so you won’t have to leave your website to handle queries on a separate platform.

5. Boosting website speed: WP Rocket

WP Rocket is a caching plugin designed to speed up your WordPress website. Customers don’t like waiting for a website to load. Fifty-seven percent say they will abandon a site that takes more than 3 seconds to load. WP Rocket offers page caching, browser caching, cache preloading, and compresses Gzip files, which help boost website speed.

High-resolution images are notorious for slowing down websites. WP Rocket offers Imagify, which compresses image files and lazy loading, which defers the loading of off-screen images until the user scrolls down to them.

This plugin also speeds up eCommerce sites by automatically excluding conflicting pages like the “cart,” “checkout, and “my account” pages from the cache.

6. Website security: Sucuri

Online security is a concern for every business and WordPress offers a solution for this too. Install Sucuri and benefit from immediate protection from website hacks and DDoS attacks. Security breaches can result in customer information being accessed, or your entire customer database could be lost instantly.

Sucuri’s firewall will monitor your website at all times, alert you to threats, and automatically remove any malware. Sucuri can also perform regular backups and restore your website should an attack occur.

Upgrade your WordPress website and boost your business

Competing in business is tough. Without the right tools, it becomes even tougher. Providing a fast, user-friendly, and seamless online experience is no longer an option. It’s a must.

If your website is slow and clunky, now is a good time to upgrade it. These six simple plugins are easy to install and can kick your business up a notch in 2021.

Image Credit: keira burton; pexels

Richard Parker

Richard Parker is senior writer at https://www.equities.com/user/Richard & https://www.theselfemployed.com/profile/richardparker/ . He covers industry-specific topics such as Entrepreneurship, Data/Security, Startups, Industrial, Growth Equity Community, Smart Cities, Connected Devices & Smart Homes.

Politics

Fintech Kennek raises $12.5M seed round to digitize lending

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London-based fintech startup Kennek has raised $12.5 million in seed funding to expand its lending operating system.

According to an Oct. 10 tech.eu report, the round was led by HV Capital and included participation from Dutch Founders Fund, AlbionVC, FFVC, Plug & Play Ventures, and Syndicate One. Kennek offers software-as-a-service tools to help non-bank lenders streamline their operations using open banking, open finance, and payments.

The platform aims to automate time-consuming manual tasks and consolidate fragmented data to simplify lending. Xavier De Pauw, founder of Kennek said:

“Until kennek, lenders had to devote countless hours to menial operational tasks and deal with jumbled and hard-coded data – which makes every other part of lending a headache. As former lenders ourselves, we lived and breathed these frustrations, and built kennek to make them a thing of the past.”

The company said the latest funding round was oversubscribed and closed quickly despite the challenging fundraising environment. The new capital will be used to expand Kennek’s engineering team and strengthen its market position in the UK while exploring expansion into other European markets. Barbod Namini, Partner at lead investor HV Capital, commented on the investment:

“Kennek has developed an ambitious and genuinely unique proposition which we think can be the foundation of the entire alternative lending space. […] It is a complicated market and a solution that brings together all information and stakeholders onto a single platform is highly compelling for both lenders & the ecosystem as a whole.”

The fintech lending space has grown rapidly in recent years, but many lenders still rely on legacy systems and manual processes that limit efficiency and scalability. Kennek aims to leverage open banking and data integration to provide lenders with a more streamlined, automated lending experience.

The seed funding will allow the London-based startup to continue developing its platform and expanding its team to meet demand from non-bank lenders looking to digitize operations. Kennek’s focus on the UK and Europe also comes amid rising adoption of open banking and open finance in the regions.

Featured Image Credit: Photo from Kennek.io; Thank you!

Radek Zielinski

Radek Zielinski is an experienced technology and financial journalist with a passion for cybersecurity and futurology.

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Fortune 500’s race for generative AI breakthroughs

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Deanna Ritchie


As excitement around generative AI grows, Fortune 500 companies, including Goldman Sachs, are carefully examining the possible applications of this technology. A recent survey of U.S. executives indicated that 60% believe generative AI will substantially impact their businesses in the long term. However, they anticipate a one to two-year timeframe before implementing their initial solutions. This optimism stems from the potential of generative AI to revolutionize various aspects of businesses, from enhancing customer experiences to optimizing internal processes. In the short term, companies will likely focus on pilot projects and experimentation, gradually integrating generative AI into their operations as they witness its positive influence on efficiency and profitability.

Goldman Sachs’ Cautious Approach to Implementing Generative AI

In a recent interview, Goldman Sachs CIO Marco Argenti revealed that the firm has not yet implemented any generative AI use cases. Instead, the company focuses on experimentation and setting high standards before adopting the technology. Argenti recognized the desire for outcomes in areas like developer and operational efficiency but emphasized ensuring precision before putting experimental AI use cases into production.

According to Argenti, striking the right balance between driving innovation and maintaining accuracy is crucial for successfully integrating generative AI within the firm. Goldman Sachs intends to continue exploring this emerging technology’s potential benefits and applications while diligently assessing risks to ensure it meets the company’s stringent quality standards.

One possible application for Goldman Sachs is in software development, where the company has observed a 20-40% productivity increase during its trials. The goal is for 1,000 developers to utilize generative AI tools by year’s end. However, Argenti emphasized that a well-defined expectation of return on investment is necessary before fully integrating generative AI into production.

To achieve this, the company plans to implement a systematic and strategic approach to adopting generative AI, ensuring that it complements and enhances the skills of its developers. Additionally, Goldman Sachs intends to evaluate the long-term impact of generative AI on their software development processes and the overall quality of the applications being developed.

Goldman Sachs’ approach to AI implementation goes beyond merely executing models. The firm has created a platform encompassing technical, legal, and compliance assessments to filter out improper content and keep track of all interactions. This comprehensive system ensures seamless integration of artificial intelligence in operations while adhering to regulatory standards and maintaining client confidentiality. Moreover, the platform continuously improves and adapts its algorithms, allowing Goldman Sachs to stay at the forefront of technology and offer its clients the most efficient and secure services.

Featured Image Credit: Photo by Google DeepMind; Pexels; Thank you!

Deanna Ritchie

Managing Editor at ReadWrite

Deanna is the Managing Editor at ReadWrite. Previously she worked as the Editor in Chief for Startup Grind and has over 20+ years of experience in content management and content development.

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UK seizes web3 opportunity simplifying crypto regulations

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Deanna Ritchie


As Web3 companies increasingly consider leaving the United States due to regulatory ambiguity, the United Kingdom must simplify its cryptocurrency regulations to attract these businesses. The conservative think tank Policy Exchange recently released a report detailing ten suggestions for improving Web3 regulation in the country. Among the recommendations are reducing liability for token holders in decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) and encouraging the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to adopt alternative Know Your Customer (KYC) methodologies, such as digital identities and blockchain analytics tools. These suggestions aim to position the UK as a hub for Web3 innovation and attract blockchain-based businesses looking for a more conducive regulatory environment.

Streamlining Cryptocurrency Regulations for Innovation

To make it easier for emerging Web3 companies to navigate existing legal frameworks and contribute to the UK’s digital economy growth, the government must streamline cryptocurrency regulations and adopt forward-looking approaches. By making the regulatory landscape clear and straightforward, the UK can create an environment that fosters innovation, growth, and competitiveness in the global fintech industry.

The Policy Exchange report also recommends not weakening self-hosted wallets or treating proof-of-stake (PoS) services as financial services. This approach aims to protect the fundamental principles of decentralization and user autonomy while strongly emphasizing security and regulatory compliance. By doing so, the UK can nurture an environment that encourages innovation and the continued growth of blockchain technology.

Despite recent strict measures by UK authorities, such as His Majesty’s Treasury and the FCA, toward the digital assets sector, the proposed changes in the Policy Exchange report strive to make the UK a more attractive location for Web3 enterprises. By adopting these suggestions, the UK can demonstrate its commitment to fostering innovation in the rapidly evolving blockchain and cryptocurrency industries while ensuring a robust and transparent regulatory environment.

The ongoing uncertainty surrounding cryptocurrency regulations in various countries has prompted Web3 companies to explore alternative jurisdictions with more precise legal frameworks. As the United States grapples with regulatory ambiguity, the United Kingdom can position itself as a hub for Web3 innovation by simplifying and streamlining its cryptocurrency regulations.

Featured Image Credit: Photo by Jonathan Borba; Pexels; Thank you!

Deanna Ritchie

Managing Editor at ReadWrite

Deanna is the Managing Editor at ReadWrite. Previously she worked as the Editor in Chief for Startup Grind and has over 20+ years of experience in content management and content development.

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