Here’s the thing: online brands absolutely love working with WordPress. 

In addition to ease of use, cost-effectiveness, and versatility, WordPress is also supported by truckloads of third-party platforms that can boost user engagement. 

We’re talking about plugins, marketing automation tools, analytics platforms—the list goes on.

In this post, you’ll learn all about the tools and best practices to supercharge user engagement on your WordPress website. 

Let’s jump in. 

1. Set up content engagement tracking

There’s a reason why this is the first thing on our list. 

Setting up content engagement tracking allows you to monitor important metrics, like bounce rate, session duration, and pages per visit. This will help you determine the effectiveness of your content strategy and overall website design. 

However, it takes time for website analytics tools to gather enough data and generate readable reports. 

Google Analytics, for example, takes 24-48 hours to collect data. 

When done, Google Analytics will provide you with a bird’s-eye view of your WordPress website’s performance. 

With the help of Google Tag Manager, you can also use custom events to track advanced metrics like “scroll depth.” This metric lets you measure exactly how far users scroll on your pages before they stop reading. 

While you wait for your content tracking tool to get ready, feel free to experiment with the rest of the strategies in this post. Cycle back to your content tracking dashboard to see if they’re working or not.

2. Modernize your optimization strategy

By modernization, we mean designing your website with the audience’s preferred device in mind. 

Yes—that means optimizing your website for mobile browsing. 

It’s been years since mobile exceeded desktop in terms of internet traffic share. Today, 57.88% of internet traffic comes from mobile devices, including smartphones and tablets. 

Rather than prioritizing mobile-friendliness as an afterthought, it should be your first priority when developing a WordPress website.

First, let’s get the basics out of the way: 

• Choose a responsive theme to optimize viewing on smaller screens
• Maximize whitespace and space out clickable elements
• Use large, readable fonts
• Tune up your website’s loading speed on mobile

The next order of business is to design accessible and engaging mobile experiences. 

Dedicate entire rows for clickable elements

Big-name brands like eBay and Adobe use entire rows for clickable elements. This includes “Add to cart” and “Buy Now” buttons.

Aligning your page elements vertically allows for a seamless swiping experience. Plus, your page will look more organized and readable in portrait mode. 

Present multi-step experiences

Stop using a single-page approach when building checkout and registration experiences. 

To streamline conversion experiences on mobile devices, create multiple pages for individual steps. 

For example, the first page may only include a “Sign Up” button. On the succeeding pages, they can complete individual steps like entering their name, confirming their subscription, and going to their profile page. 

Allow social logins

Most people have all their social media accounts logged in using one device. 

If your website has an account creation feature, let them use their social accounts to simplify the registration process. 

You can make this happen with a WordPress plugin like miniOrange Social Login.

3. Boost your rankings with SEO plugins

Search engine optimization is an effective way to reel in high-quality, engaged traffic to your WordPress website. 

However, SEO services have gone up in price due to the fierce competition and the constantly evolving search engine algorithms. 

Sure, focusing on the big picture is important. But WordPress users should also look for quick wins to augment their SEO results. 

To help you discover these opportunities, here are some of the best SEO plugins for WordPress websites:

• EWWW Image Optimizer: Automate high-quality image compression to improve the performance of visual-heavy websites.

• a3 Lazy Load: Enable lazy loading to improve performance by delaying the loading of elements that users can’t see.
• Broken Link Checker: Preserve the integrity of your internal and external link profile by automatically detecting broken links. 
• Yoast SEO: Get real-time content optimization suggestions as you create WordPress drafts. 

4. Become omnichannel

Modern users want more ways to connect and interact with online brands. 

No—your brand’s presence on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube is no longer enough. 

Now that Millennials and Gen Zers have the buying power, you need to embrace new channels that younger users prefer. 

TikTok, for example, recently surpassed Google as the most popular website on the planet. This allows brands to leverage the power of short-form video to reach a wider audience.

If you’re new to TikTok, start by learning the best TikTok marketing tools that will help establish your brand’s presence. 

5. Enable instant messaging

We live in an age of digital immediacy. 

The majority of users don’t have the patience to wait for a brand’s response via email. This goes for both sales and customer service channels.

To maximize engagement on your WordPress website, integrating a live chat feature is a time-tested strategy. It is actually the number one brand communication channel preferred by Millennials and older.

Fortunately, you don’t need to invest much to capitalize on this trend. 

There are plenty of live chat software you can use to add instant messaging to your website in a snap.  

Some examples are: 

• LiveAgent
• Helpscout
• Zendesk
• Instant messaging apps (WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, etc.)

6. Use collaboration tools to accelerate progress

Finally, your WordPress website only works as well as the people running the show behind the scenes. 

You need everyone in your team on the same page to make sure critical website optimization goals are being met. 

There are dozens of project management software that can help WordPress teams accomplish tasks more effectively as a unit. Some platforms like Monday.com and Mavenlink have built-in discussion and file sharing features to elevate their collaboration. 

Keep in mind that your internal organization as a brand will be reflected on your digital channels. Building a tightly-knit team allows you to create a unified website experience that’s consistent with your brand’s vision and culture. 

Conclusion

Maximizing the user engagement factor on your WordPress website isn’t rocket science. But in the modern world, old practices like “boost loading speed” and “use visuals” are no longer enough to create a standout brand. 

The strategies above should enable you to take user engagement to new heights. Just remember step number 1: set up content tracking, figure out what works, and build on your results.