Using the Right Tool for the Job
I can remember when I was a teenager and one spring I was helping my dad to get the lawn mower running again. One bolt refused to budge and so my father set a wrench and told me to bring him a hammer. I’ve heard this phrase several times since then but this was the first time in my life I ever heard someone say, “To a hammer, everything in the world is a nail.”
Well, dad and I wailed on that wrench and bolt for about five minutes without any luck. In the end, we abandoned the wrench and resorted to God’s greatest inventions, vice grips and WD-40. We had that bolt off in a matter of seconds.
I don’t have any doubt that if we were to continue hammering that bolt would have eventually come loose. However, once we found the right tools for the job, it only took a fraction of the time it would have. Web development is largely the same process. If you want to put in enough time and effort, you can get your site to do anything. However, finding the right tool for the right job can make everything easier.
Likewise, WordPress forms are a versatile Swiss army knife of a tool, but sometimes you need a specialty plugin to reach the best solution. Today, let’s take a look at a few plugins that would be great tools for any developer.
Need a Method for Accepting Donations? Give.
Whether you are taking commission work, running a nonprofit, or just wanting to give fans a chance to so thank you for your content, being able to accept donations is a great tool to have in your repertoire. WordPress forms can do this, but you may want to also check out Give. Give is a form builder that specializes in creating forms for donations.
Give provides field customization, multiple giving options, easy recurring donation set up for boosting revenue, reporting on income and donation activity, and donor management (including generating tax deductible receipts). If taking donations is part of your business model, and even if it’s not, get Give. Not only will it save you time, but it will open more pathways for more revenue.
What About Registering Users for your Site? Try MemberPress and Restrict Content Pro.
User Management is a great tool for registering and managing users on your WordPress site, but it can’t restrict access to pages and some other advanced features you may need. You may find yourself needing an alternative or a supplement for advanced use cases. If that’s you’re dilemma, MemberPress and Restrict Content Pro are here to make your life easier. Both of these options will give you a huge amount of control without a lot of work.
MemberPress gives you the ability to set the access rules for your content, generate coupons, analyze traffic and revenue data, create a community forum (so your users can help you create traffic to your site…for free), and more.
Restrict Content Pro also gives you the ability to set access rules for your content with the added ability to provide different subscription levels for your users. Restrict Content Pro also has another great feature, it is customizable! Restrict Content Pro has a huge collection of both paid and free Pro Add-Ons, Official Add-Ons, and Third Party Add-Ons, so you can pick and choose what you need. Give both of these options a chance to see what would make your user management the most efficient boost.
How Can You Make the Most of Your Digital Marketplace? Easy Digital Downloads.
Easy Digital Downloads is your tool for streamlining a digital marketplace. It is designed to make sure you can make a profit off of your own hard work, be it eBooks, plugins, or PDF files. Easy Digital Downloads features a shopping cart form, customer management, data reports, and customization through Add-Ons! Easy Digital Downloads will set up automation and cut hours off of your sale management work. Explore its roles and add it to your site.
Sometimes WordPress forms just aren’t the answer!
We obviously have a vested interest in making your WordPress forms valuable to you. Truth be told though, they’re just not always the best tool for the job.
Give all of these plugins some time and they will pay for themselves with the amount of time they save you. Explore their features and let us know what works for you. Do you have a plugin we didn’t mention that you have found made your work more efficient? Be sure to share it below and let us know how it helped you.
