Useful WordPress Plugins to Enhance Customer Support

WordPress professionals like theme and plugin authors, developers and other WordPress service providers constantly face the challenge of providing ample, quality after-sales support to their customers. It is a tricky area that even seasoned professionals need to constantly juggle. For those who are starting out new in the WordPress marketplace, it can be overwhelming to have a successful and highly-popular WordPress theme doing well as far as sales go because of the twin responsibility of providing high-volume customer support. Customer support can be the straw that breaks the camel’s back on any theme that sells like hotcakes which explains a lot of WordPress theme one-hit wonders. That’s why it is crucial to also include setting up a framework for addressing customer support during a WordPress theme’s development process and not be caught unprepared. Here are some useful tools and plugins to consider to address that need:

Live2support

Live2support is a leading live chat software with advanced features. Live2Support! Live Chat Software service is a simple plug and play hosted service and does not require any software installation or IT expertise.
You just need to place small code into your webpage to enable Live Support on your website. Live2Support’s flexibility and versatility allows you to tailor independent and separate chat windows for departments such as sales, product promotions, technical support, billing and customer service departments. Live2Support’s live support application generates detailed chat transcripts. This enables you to use these transcripts to conduct market research, develop customer profiles, train chat operators and evaluate chat operator performance.

WordPress Advanced Ticket System

WordPress Advanced Ticket System (WATS) is the ultimate ticketing system for all organizations looking at enhancing their customer relationship experience. This is a plugin that adds to WordPress the features of a complete ticket system: ticket numbering, ticket integration, ticket keys, ticket submission, ticket followup, ticket notification, et cetera. This allows users to submit tickets to report problems or get support on whatever you want. Users can set the status, priority, product and type of each ticket.

wpsc Support Tickets

wpsc Support Tickets is an open source WordPress support ticket system for WordPress using jQuery. It is a plugin for WordPress that allows you to offer support tickets to your website visitors & customers. It is lightweight, open source, Ajax enabled, and easy to use and administrate.

FAQ and Knowledge Base Plugin

Add a powerful FAQ & Knowledge Base on your WordPress Blog or Website with this plugin from Casengo. Casengo’s Cloud-based, affordable social customer support software brings the human touch back into customer service. Regardless of channel type, it simplifies real-time conversation by presenting a unique Hybrid Messaging Timeline.

Live Chat Casengo

Add live chat to your blog or website quick and easy with Casengo, so you can handle enquiries via email and live chat directly from your website. Casengo helps you to respond to customers faster than ever and improve their satisfaction with a groovy mixture of real-time chat and email. Casengo’s cloud application for customer support blends the best of email and chat. It empowers web shops and other small businesses to more readily deliver the right answer at once.

Zendesk for WordPress

Zendesk for WordPress allows you to bring your helpdesk, powered by Zendesk, into your blog or site. Zendesk offers: easy-to-use self-service options with knowledge-base and community features, one-on-one support through any channel (website, phone, email, Twitter, Facebook, chat) and turns it into a ticket, a ticketing system built for speed (simplified support team workflow) with streamlined systems for managing support content, access to all the info you need all in one workspace, efficient group conversations, and last, but not the least, portability through mobile apps on all devices.

SabaiDiscuss Plugin – CodeCanyon

SabaiDiscuss is a premium questions and answers plugin for WordPress. The plugin features the ability for users to ask and answer questions similar to Stack Overflow or Yahoo Answers. SabaiDiscuss is an ideal tool not only for building a community driven question-and-answer website but also for building a discussion forum, a knowledge base, or even a helpdesk portal for WordPress.

Decoding WordPress Shortcodes

A shortcode is a WordPress-specific code that lets you do nifty things with very little effort. Shortcodes can embed files or create objects that would normally require lots of complicated, ugly code in just one line. Shortcode = shortcut. (WordPress.com)

WordPress shortcodes were introduced in version 2.5.They are a simple set of functions for creating macro codes for use in post content. It enables plugin developers to create special kinds of content (e.g. forms, content generators) that users can attach to certain pages by adding the corresponding shortcode into the page text.

According to WPBeginner,

“…a shortcode is a special tag that you can enter into a post that gets replaced with different content when actually viewing the post on the website.

…a shortcode looks similar to an HTML tag, but is enclosed with square brackets instead of angle brackets. This code gets replaced with some other code when the page is actually loaded in a web browser. The really cool thing is that WordPress allows you to create your own custom shortcodes to display pretty much anything. You could use it to output a Youtube video, show your latest tweets, or even customize it however you like.

An excellent article How to Use Shortcodes in WordPress by Lucy Beer demystifies shortcodes and breaks it down in chewable chunks quite nicely.

Simply put, shortcodes are useful because:

  • shortcodes are easy to use
  • shortcodes are easy to create
  • shortcodes simplify repetitive tasks

Commonly used shortcodes include:

  • buttons
  • content boxes
  • icon lists
  • columns
  • drop caps
  • quotes
  • pricing table
  • author info
  • contact forms
  • tabs

Today, WordPress developers are coming out with simpler and easier to use shortcodes that help even beginners to achieve professional looking websites without touching a single code. These shortcodes allow you to create custom design elements that are unique to your own website without having to use complex coding skills resulting in better looking and functioning websites.

Top Selling WordPress Themes Just for You

Want something new to add to your WordPress theme collection? Here are some of the most popular and top grossing WordPress themes to consider. Check out why these themes are doing so well in the marketplace:

Kallyas Responsive Multi Purpose WordPress Theme

Kallyas Premium WordPress Theme is an ultra-premium, modern, and highly-responsive WordPress Theme built for today’s websites. It’s super flexible, clean design clean code, and touts itself as one of the most complete theme ever created. This theme integrates most if not all of the major features you will ever need or want in a theme: customizable Page Builder, responsive layout, smart loader, SEO ready, WPML ready, WooCommerce ready, multiple modern sliders, MailChimp newsletter integration and adaptation, and so much more. You also get bonus headers (Christmas and Easter) as part of the theme package.

Enfold Responsive Multi Purpose WordPress Theme

Enfold Premium WordPress Theme is a clean, super flexible and fully responsive multipurpose WordPress Theme ideal for business websites, shop websites, and creative agencies or freelance designers portfolio website. The Theme is built using the Avia Framework. From layout modification, styling, color choices, font choices, predefined theme skins, support for the WPML MULTI LANGUAGE plugin – Enfold has everything you need and more. The theme also includes a dynamic template builder to help you create the website you need in no time.

Kutcher Studio

Create your dream design studio website with Kutcher Studio Premium WordPress Theme. What’s great about the theme is that the developers can install it for you as seen in the demo that way all you need to do is customize. The theme comes with more than 60+ useful and flexible shortcodes including a shortcode generator, optimized code, responsive and retina display ready shortcodes to build professional and complete layouts easily. Other features include a Layout Builder is fully compatible with plugins and is translation-ready with WPML (WordPress Multi Language Plugin) to build complex layouts easily with support translation of your content, a portfolio system that supports multiple stylesMasonry style, Grid Style, Videos, Images, among so many other features that will blow you away.

Tisson Premium WordPress Theme

Tisson is a fresh and modern multipurpose WordPress theme that can be used for any type of website. This premium theme allows you to build your website based on blocks and standard pages using the theme’s Page Builder. This theme is 100% retina ready and responsive, SEO ready (compatible with Yoast and AIO SEO), and it is WPML and translation ready. It includes a Drag and Drop content builder, the Revolution slider, and XML file with demo content – all to get your site up and running in no time.

Glider – Clean and Flat Stylish WordPress Theme

Glider Premium WordPress Theme is a stylish, multi-functional, responsive, ultra-modern theme with a flat UI that will fit all types of websites. From professional corporate to personal blog, this theme’s features can meet any website’s requirements. Easy to use options and features allow you to build and organize your content the way you want it: 7 splendid layouts, easy to use admin panel, 7 useful plugins (Visual Composer, Page Builder, 3 sliders, Mega Menu and Pricing tables), among the plethora of theme options.

Central – Versatile Multi Purpose WordPress Theme

CENTRAL is a dynamic and highly versatile multi-purpose WordPress theme that gives you the ability to create stunning animated pages that will make your website stand out. You have the option to: Choose between 4 fluid AJAX animations, create unlimited Parallax pages, take advantage of awesome Revolution Slider. Build your website: using a highly intuitive and friendly-to-use framework, mix full width and standard grid customizable headers, or get creative with modular shortcodes. Choose from two different animated types of infographics, and so many other features and functions to create the stunning website of your dreams.

Unplug Those High Risk WordPress Plugins!

WordPress is a free and open source blogging tool based on PHP and MySQL that has evolved into a full content management system (CMS) with a plug-in architecture and a template system that extends its power and functions beyond basic expectations.

Because of its open source nature, one of the greatest benefits WordPress users enjoy is that hundreds of people all over the world are free to use it, work on it, and develop other products based on it that get plowed back into the WordPress marketplace and community. This has resulted in tens of thousands of plugins and themes flooding the market today. However, this freedom has also made WordPress a popular target for attacks, especially 3rd party plugins that fail to go through or pass coding standards and security guidance or requirements, making it vulnerable to hackers and malicious mass infections.

In a recent research conducted by Checkmarx, a security solutions provider using automated code analysis, it identified that more than 20% of the most popular WordPress plugins are vulnerable to web attacks.

According to the Report:

20% of the 50 most popular WordPress plugins are vulnerable to common Web attacks. This amounts to nearly 8 million downloads of vulnerable plugins.

  • these plugins are vulnerable to: SQL Injection (SQLi), Cross Site Scripting (XSS), Cross Site Request Forgery (CSRF), and Path Traversal (PT).

7 out of top 10 most popular e-commerce plugins are vulnerable to common Web attacks. This amounts to more than 1.7 million downloads of vulnerable e-commerce plugins.

There is no correlation between the number of Lines of Code (LOC) and the vulnerability level of the plugins.

  • the smaller the code does not necessarily mean the safer the code. On the contrary – some plugins that included only a few thousand lines of code contained more types of vulnerabilities than plugins containing tens of thousands lines of code.

Vulnerable top 50 general plugin types vary.

  • – e-commerce, feed aggregators, APIs, social network linking

Only six plugins were completely fixed in a 6-month time period – although all plugins updated their versions during this time.

  • A first scan ran in January 2013 showed a higher rate of vulnerable plugins where more than a third (18 out of 50) of the plugins were vulnerable. In total, this meant that nearly 18.5 million vulnerable plugins were downloaded. Vulnerabilities in that first scan also presented the existence of RFI/ LFI vulnerabilities.

Recommendations

WordPress plugin vulnerabilities affect three major parties: the web admins, the plugin developers, and WordPress itself. Below are some of the recommendations stated in the report.

For Web Admins

  • Download plugins only from reputable sources. For WordPress, this means WordPress.org
  • Verify the security posture of the plugin by scanning it for security issues
  • Ensure all your plugins are up to date
  • Remove any unused plugins

For Plugin Developers

  • Integrate security within the plugin development
  • Run the plugin through a code scanner to ensure that it stands up to a security standard

SMBs or simple home-based businesses that do not have a built-in or sophisticated IT department to go through all these checks and balances, run a high risk of vulnerability because of the great deal of trust they place in available 3rd party plugins (especially the free ones). Web administrators need to be more discerning and thorough in their research before installing any plugins on the sites they manage. Plugin developers need to be self-governed and abide by security coding best practices. As each one does his part, this ensures that the whole WordPress community stands to benefit in the end.

Popular WordPress Plugins Updated for Security

In an article on WordPress Plugin vulnerabilities, we mentioned that the top 50 most popular plugins were tested for security and vulnerability by Checkmarx, a leading provider in application security. The first scan was conducted in January 2013 where it was discovered that more than a third of the 50 plugins were vulnerable. The second scan, conducted in early June 2013, was performed on the updated versions of all plugins. However, only six of these updates were free of those previously found vulnerabilities. These were:

BuddyPress

– creates a social network for the organization. # Downloads: 1,319,743.

A BuddyPress Plugin is a program, or a set of one or more functions, written in the PHP scripting language, that adds a specific set of features or services to the BuddyPress site, which can be seamlessly integrated with the site using access points and methods provided by the BuddyPress Plugin API. BuddyPress allows easy modification, customization, and enhancement to a BuddyPress powered WordPress site. Instead of changing the core programming of BuddyPress, you can add functionality with BuddyPress Plugins.

BBPress

– forum software. # Downloads: 483,28. Alerted by Checkmarx to their vulnerabilities.

bbPress is forum software, made the WordPress way – simple to setup, fully integrated, multisite forum, simple interface, customizable templates, highly extensible

E-Commerce

– shopping cart plugin. # Downloads: 2,209,352.

WP e-Commerce is a free WordPress Shopping Cart Plugin that lets customers buy your products, services and digital downloads online.

WooCommerce

– an e-commerce store. # Downloads: 469,503

WooCommerce is a free, powerful WordPress eCommerce plugin. With the extendability of a huge catalog of commercial themes and extensions we have all the tools you might need to get your shop running. Transform your WordPress website into a thoroughbred eCommerce store, delivering enterprise-level quality and features whilst backed by a name (WooThemes) you can trust.

W3 Total Cache

– site optimization by caching. # Downloads: 1,450,980. Most likely fixed as part of a security overhaul following an external full disclosure of some vulnerabilities.

W3 Total Cache improves the user experience of your site by increasing server performance, reducing the download times and providing transparent content delivery network (CDN) integration.

Super Cache

– site optimization by caching. # Downloads: 3,984,976. Most likely fixed as part of a security overhaul as with W3 Total Cache.

A very fast caching engine for WordPress that produces static html files. This plugin generates static html files from your dynamic WordPress blog. After a html file is generated your webserver will serve that file instead of processing the comparatively heavier and more expensive WordPress PHP scripts. Supercache really comes into it’s own if your server is underpowered, or you’re experiencing heavy traffic. Super Cached html files will be served more quickly than PHP generated cached files but in everyday use, the difference isn’t noticeable.

Note: Downloads statistics are as of the time of the tests.

25 Excellent WordPress Tumblog Themes

Tumblr is a popular micro blogging platform where people can make small posts, share links and images with others, reblog the posts of others, etc. It is a platform that sort of combines the features of a blog with social networking.
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Vertex WordPress Theme – 85th Theme from Elegant Themes

Take your website to the top of your game with Vertex Premium WordPress Theme, the 85th theme to be released by Elegant Themes. Web and graphic designers, photographers, and all kinds of service providers will surely create an impact on their clientele with this stunning theme’s distinct animation effects that will surely keep them engaged from the very start.

This premium theme is primarily geared specifically for service providers and businesses and it is perfect for businesses that would like to showcase their services and products. Dynamic animation, beautiful muted colors, clean and classic typography – all conveniently packed in this one page, long scrolling design wonder. This modern design style allows users to have a good overview of your business right at the home page – perfect for the busy client who needs answers to who, what, why, and how – pronto.

The homepage has a stunning image section that fills the full width of your browser. As you scroll down the page, you experience a 3d parallax like effect with the theme’s animation effects. Color schemes, fonts, and overall color management can be easily changed in the Theme Customizer panel with tons of options for color combinations and font choices. The theme also includes several sections among them are: a manual slider with 3d transitions, a portfolio, customer endorsements, team member bios featuring each team member’s skills and expertise level, a prominently displayed call to action button, and a widgetized footer section.

Vertex Premium WordPress Theme is fully responsive, SEO optimized, and meticulously designed in every detail to help take your website all the way to the top.

Features:

  • Theme Options
  • Shortcodes
  • Page Templates
  • Responsive
  • Perpetual Updates
  • Secure and Valid Code
  • Browser Compatibility
  • Complete Localization
  • Unlimited Colors

Vertex Premium WordPress Theme includes perpetual updates, unparalleled support, and access more than 80+ high quality WordPress themes included in every Elegant Themes membership.

Get 85 WordPress Themes For $39!

WordPress Themes for Mobile and Tablet

Majority if not all of the recent WordPress theme releases have included responsive design as a staple feature. This ensures that these themes will display well on mobile and handheld devices. Below is a list of WordPress themes that have been created and designed primarily for mobile and handheld devices. These themes are meant to cater to a mobile audience but some of them can also function quite well even on desktop browsers.

Here’s a roundup of the latest WordPress themes for mobile and tablet:

Provocateur°

Provocateur° is a cool and interesting theme built using jQuery Mobile, HTML5 and CSS3, especially for mobile phones and particularly optimized for Apple devices. Main features include a portfolio, a blog, a customizable main page, custom menus and widgets, shortcodes (accordion, portfolio, contact form, tags, YouTube), and even a QR-code sharing option. This theme has a unique slide down menu, email and social networking sharing (twitter & facebook) options, and a changing flip animation.

Touch

Touch is a “lighter than air” WordPress theme that shows power can be packed in a light mobile theme. You get a straightforward blog, an optional static front page, a touch gesture-enabled gallery, a portfolio, a unique comment form along with a validation-enabled contact form, plus sliders, short codes etc. all in one neat, little package. This theme has been thoroughly tested on iOS, Android, Windows Phone, including desktop browsers.

Brave

Brave is an elegant and feature- rich dark theme created for mobile devices. This awesome theme has everything your desktop theme offers and can be used alongside your desktop site. it is ready for localization, can ‘install as web app’ on iOS, contains a beautifully unique menu, comes with comment/contact forms, has a touch/swipe enabled gallery, comes with multiple color schemes, and a variety of extremely customizable short codes to design the mobile website you need.

Resans

Resans is a highly advanced WordPress theme for creatives designed especially for tablets and mobile devices. On larger devices, Resans presents posts on a 4 column grid (Masonry style). As display sizes shrink, the number of columns reduce until a lone column is displayed mobile-style. Resans supports several features such as swipe gestures, responsive layout, 5 page afterload animations, animated loading of new pages, unlimited colors for fonts and backgrounds (header, footer, content, menu), and so much more. Resans can be used alongside with your desktop template and can be set up using Resans AP.

Hero

Hero is a super clean, feature packed WordPress theme built for websites with lot of mobile following. This theme has the power of a regular desktop theme adapted to the smaller devices. Hero gives you impressive blog and portfolio pages similar to a regular desktop version in a more compact form to encourage interaction from your mobile visitors. Theme features include: provisions for two different slider plugins, tons of shortcodes, 9 post formats (Aside, Quote, Image, Video, Audio, Gallery, Status, Link, Chat), translation ready, “install as web app” functionality, and so much more.

Spartan

Spartan is a fully featured WordPress theme for mobile devices created with the goal of being flexible enough to adapt to any and all types of WordPress sites and yet still function as a stand alone theme. One of the many cool features tucked into this theme is the menu that goes beyond just listing a number of links in predetermined styles. This feature allows you to build and color a unique navigation system of your choice. Other cool features include: the comment button that also serves as a visual indicator (grayed out when comments for a given post are disabled, or shaking itself ever so gently to remind the user to read and leave comments when comments are enabled), and also the amount of customization available via shortcodes.