As we all know, plugins take your site from one that looks good and functions well to one that looks outstanding and because of extended features and options, takes functionality (and in turn, sales) to new heights.
We also know that it’s been said that a picture is worth a million words. For folks interested in selling their digital products, giving visitors more than a mere description is vital to sales. When it comes to making your online business stand out, it’s no secret that visually-enticing, head-turning images, video and music (depending on your needs, of course) not only jazz up the proverbial “look and feel” of your site, but it also strengthens the user-experience.
You can’t sell music to your bridal market on the hope that the description of “enjoyable, toe-tapping tunes that will illicit goosebumps and romantic tendencies” will suffice. Nope. Your visitors want to know what those tunes will indeed resonate with them as you say they will and will want to hear it for themselves. Same thing goes if you’re selling images online. If your visitors can only see a thumbnail, or can only enlarge a thumbnail that’s ultimately grainy, you’ve likely not only lost a sale, but a returning customer. In a nutshell, by giving your audience more “hands-on,” sensory details via the ability to enlarge pictures (better yet if they don’t have to navigate to another page to do so), listen to music and hear video, they have more knowledge about what you’re selling and become more inclined to make a purchase.
By adding certain media plugins to your WordPress theme, you can significantly enhance overall professionalism, “see it to believe it” appeal that impresses visitors. Bottom line is it’ll help you sell better.
Sigh. Yes, you know all of this. But the key is finding the ones that are right for you, minus the time-consuming, sometimes confusing process of sorting through endless options.
Not to worry. We’ve done the legwork for you, outlining the top 10 WordPress multimedia plugins that will add professionalism to your business, impress your visitors and hopefully boost your sales at the same time. Explore them today and vastly increase the activity on your site.
Top 10 WordPress Multimedia Plugins
NextGen Gallery: Considered one of the most popular plugins of all time (if 7.5 million downloads doesn’t do it for you, I don’t know what does), NextGen Gallery is a supremely powerful way to manage images. Batch uploading, image sorting, meta data editing, thumbnail resizing and options galore for controlling lightbox effects and image transitions are just the beginning of what the NextGen Gallery plugin offers. To learn more or install, click here.
360 Product Viewer: Don’t just give visitors a peek of your images, give them a complete all-around experience with them. Embed 360 Product Viewer is a free WordPress plugin that shows off your product using 360-degree panoramic views. Created by a photography studio, this plugin has full screen support, unlimited zoom and includes a variety of settings so that rotation, inertia and playback can be controlled. One reviewer of the free plugin says, “Excellent support! I recommend this to any online retailer, even to anyone who wishes to display anything in rich media!” To learn more or install, click here.
Easy FancyBox: Ideal for just about all your media file needs, this plugin is touted as a way to give you ” . . . a flexible and aesthetic lightbox solution for just about all media links on your website.” Easy FancyBox supports iFrame and flash movies, all image types and maps, one user says, “I use this plugin quite frequently. It’s the only fancybox plugin that seems to work in any situation, for any need I may have. It has yet to let me down.” To learn more or install, click here.
Gmedia Gallery: It’s all here. Gmedia Gallery lets you upload unlimited amounts of photos and audio files, create playlists and add tags. It also supports any file format. To learn more or install, click here.
WP Photo Album Plus: An easy way to manage albums and slideshows, this plugin offers no limits on the amount of albums, photos or sub albums you can create and puts you in full control over the sizes, ordering and slideshows. If you want to highlight a certain product, you are able to add a “Photo of the Day” sidebar widget that can be changed at your discretion: hourly, daily or weekly. To learn more or install, click here.
Lightbox Plus ColorBox: The overlaying tools of this plugin are as aesthetically pleasing as they are to use. Win-win for you and your visitors. With the ability to view larger images without having to leave the existing page, Lightbox Plus ColorBox is convenient and hassle-free way to showcase your products. One user says, “I have many clients and have tried many lightbox plugins. I love this one – easy to configure, yet with a ton of options. I’ve had no trouble with it at all; works great. Flexibility, works great…what more could you want! A+” To learn more or install, click here.
WP Video Plugin: This one’s simple. It gives you the ability to embed from among 66 popular video-supported sites including YouTube, Facebook, Flickr Video and Vimeo. No more finding that ideal video only to discover it’s not supported. This basic, but helpful plugin saves you from having to go back to square one, thanks to the fact that it supports so many popular sites. To learn more or install, click here.
BluBerry PowerPress Podcasting Plugin: With full iTunes support, web audio/video media players (with support from the likes of YouTube and Ustream.tv) and supported media formats including mp3, m4a, wma, avi, pdf, and epub, what’s not to love? There’s a bevy of podcasting options, as well as ways to customize them to really drive the point home to your visitors. To learn more or install, click here.
Music Store: The name says it all. Perfect for your online music store, this plugin is ideal for “everything audio” according to WordPress. Therefore, speeches and other narratives benefit from this plugin. Compatible with all major browsers, it offers everything from PayPal security to the ability to share songs and collections across social networks. To learn more or install, click here.
JetPack by WordPress: This plugin, which has been downloaded over seven million times, offers eye-catching formats to manage your image galleries including mosaic, squares and a slideshow view. It’s also simple to embed media from sites such as YouTube and Digg. Add to this an ongoing list of other highly-coveted must-haves like editing without having to change your theme or social media integration, and you’re good to go. To learn more or install, click here.
