WordPress Plugin – What, How and Why?

I´m going to go out on a limb and assume that you have heard of WordPress before, or even used it to build a website. WordPress is one of the worlds most popular website builders and is used by thousands of people all over the world. From pivate individuals to Fortune 500 companies, WordPress is used to build everything from complex websites to simple landing pages like cat-bounce.com. The website builder is known for it´s flexibility and user friendly setup. According to WordPress itself, 43% of the web is built on WordPress.

WordPress offers several extensions, also called plugins, which you can use to increase the functionality of your website. It can be anything from contact forms, marketing tools to backup of your website. With a WordPress plugin, you get third-party solutions integrated directly into your website. With the ability to "plug in" different software into your website, the possibilities are endless for what kind of website you can create. You will find over 60,000 free extensions that can be installed directly into your website in the WordPress extension library. These can be easily installed and do not require programming skills. You can also upload extensions in .zip format in the same extension library. In theory, you can install as many plugins as you want on the website.

In addition, there are certain extensions that require an API integration,for example the integration with Intellipush. An API integration gives you far more flexibility and can be specially adapted to your needs. The disadvantage is that it requires technical expertise to carry out such an integration and it is more time-consuming than a normal plugin.

There are many benefits to installing WordPress plugins. As mentioned at the beginning, these extensions will increase the functionality of your website. Many developers use extensions because they can save them a lot of time on development. The extensions also allow you to accumulate many tools in one place. You can add everything from payment methods to translation tools to your website, as well as customize the appearance of the website so that it represents you and your company. The extensions are easy to install and can just as easily be disabled if needed. Some extensions offer a paid version with more advanced functionality. It is worth mentioning that the price rarely exceeds $100 and that these extensions are often well updated and functional.

With the extensions from the WordPress extension directory, the process is quite simple. You press "install now" and the extension gets installed. In some cases, you may want to check that the extension is enabled under "installed extensions". Occasionally these extensions require an update. You will be notified of this in the overview of installed extensions, and you will have the option to see details of the new version as well as to carry out the update immediately. You need little to no technical knowledge to install and maintain the extensions.

If you want to use an API integration, it is a good idea to get a helping hand if you do not have the technical expertise required to carry out the integration yourself. To be able to use Intellipush's API, for example, you will need an API key and API secret. This information can be found under "API settings" in the menu on your page on Intellipush. The API is well documented and includes debugging- and developer tools.

If you want to integrate SMS directly into your WordPress site, we have skilled partners who can assist with the integration.