10 Plugins That All Photography Sites Need


he most popular open source CMS currently on the market is WordPress. Statistically there are 58,315,123 people in the world and most of them are either looking at striking WordPress site's or creating their own. Now, take that statistic and couple with the fact that there are 392 million people daily checking out blogs and pages via WordPress every month. The fact is if you own a photography business then you can't afford to look the other way when it comes to creating your site. From plugins that allow you to link up to social media sites and enhanced spam protection-WordPress offers business owners and individuals a plethora of choices.
The team of developers on WordPress are constantly creating new plugin's to take your site in the direction that it needs to be. In fact, if you have not found the right plugin to turn your photography site upside down, then you just have not looked hard enough. CMS plugins make your site powerful, incredibly fast and dynamic. In that spirit, we have compiled a list of must have's for your WordPress site.
Design Approval System 
This plugin allows you to interact with clients. After a day of shooting you can upload the content to your site. Then you can send a link directly to the client so that they can approve the draft. Not only that but the client can approve the design via the plugin's link which is sent directly to your site. They can also see your project notes replete with multiple versions of photo's in a single posting.
Shutter 
Created specifically for photographers this plugin allows you to create a full set of pictures and galleries with unlimited photo potential. Plus, you can control the size of the full photo and the thumbnails. Shortcodes in the plugin allow you to embed into galleries and posts on the blog. Currently the plugin is extended to allow you to select the photo's you like best and in order proof it. Or you can use this plugin to create a private proofing gallery.
Thinglink 
Different from the other plugins this application allows you to add text to your photo's, link it to social sites and add audio. This app is rated 5 stars by most users. Images are Images can be tagged and embedded allowing you to explain a story in depth with a single picture. Sites like YouTube, Spotify, Amazon and Facebook are only a few of the links that most users like to use.
Photopress 
This plugin just creates a shortcode and it uses this in the pages and posts you place on the site. It puts all of your images online easily. The popup-loader and image browser are there the minute you need them and you can upload a picture quite easily. This plugin is malleable and allows you to exclude images that are possible associated with a term.
Askimet 
It gets rid of spam plain and simple. The plugin was designed by WordPress and is provided by Automattic. It's free for personal users. But if you are commercial, then there are special plugins available.
All In One SEO Pack
This improves your sites overall ranking. It provides you with analytics support, automatic META tags, canonical URL's and support for your posts. It's absolutely imperative to have this pack if you want to expand your site.
Nextgen Gallery 
Another great plugin to use on your photo site. This program works with all themes. It is one of the most popular plugins on the WordPress gallery site. Currently it is at 6 million downloads. Maintained by Photocrati Media, the plugin allows user to get photos uploaded in batches using the WordPress upload feature. Manage your gallery, and edit them easily, this plugin also has the handy feature of allowing you to watermark your pictures.
Google Analytics for WordPress 
Track the progress of your site's activity to maintain optimum content and interaction.The latest version uses the asynchronous tracking method. It basically loads your pages a lot faster, and collects more data. The old version was slow to provide data if Javascript was not loading. But, the new version fixed that bug and eliminated those errors the minute that they happen.
Gravity Forms 
Not free, but still extremely useful to gain contracts from potential clients. You can create questionnaires to gauge the satisfaction ration of your clients and to garner queries from potential clients. It is definitely imperative to the overall function of your site. Another great feature,it can transfer information from the form directly to a CRM data site making integration easier.
Booking Calendar 
Looking for a way to synthesize all of your current clients? Using this app will make it all a lot easier. Simply download the free plugin and create your booking system. It's basically only for online reservations and allows users to migrate to their calendars easily.
Some of these app's require a small fee, but most are free. The majority of these make not only your site optimized for enhanced results, but your life just got a little easier. From booking clients with forms to creating digitally enhanced galleries-WordPress has the upgrades your site cannot do without.
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