Doing more in less time is on the minds of all WordPress users. You could optimise some of your tasks, but others require tedious user actions. You can set your site to automatically update for example, but it’s best practice to test updates on a development and staging site before deploying them to production to avoid potential downtime.
Tweaking a caching plugin takes time, but it could speed up your site, so it pays off in the end. Do you want to test a new security plugin? It’s not a bad idea, but it takes time to setup too.
These are only a few examples of WordPress tasks that require your time. Doing these tasks for a site or two is not a big deal, but it’s a colossal workload when you offer maintenance for tonnes of sites.
We know how important is to improve your productivity because we take care of a bunch of sites. We continuously try to optimise all of our tasks, and a few tools have genuinely helped us. Here is our list of tools for you to improve your productivity with WordPress.
Disclaimer
There are no affiliate links, and all of these suggestions are in-house tested and most used.
We don’t say that these are the best but that they have helped us save time. We intend to share with you what we use, and we are eager to find out your favourite tools for improved productivity.
1. ManageWP
ManageWP is an irreplaceable assistant for WordPress admins that takes care of multiple sites. Use Manage WP to save precious time by monitoring and maintaining your WordPress sites from a single dashboard. There is no need to move back and forth to update the WordPress core, plugins, and themes for each site. You can perform all these actions with a single click by using ManageWP.
Even though it’s a great tool that improves your productivity significantly, ManageWP is free! The app is monetised through a number of premium add-ons. For instance, you have to pay $1 for an advanced client report, which is extremely reasonable.
Check the pricing section for more information.
2. WPRemote
WPRemote is a strong contender for ManageWP. It comes with similar features and it’s also free. It’s simple to use: add your sites and you can monitor and maintain them from a single dashboard. You can update everything with just a click without logging in to each administrated site.
Interestingly WpRemote boasts use of API keys instead of asking for your sites login details for improved security!
3. Toggl
Time is the only resource you can’t reuse, so managing your time is a top priority.
Toggl is a great tool designed to keep track of your time and it works great for both solopreneurs and teams. The interface is user-friendly—you don’t need special on-boarding guidance or tutorials.
Toggl not only tracks your time but also gives you granular control over workers’ activities and how much time each task needs. On top of that, Toggl is available for both Android and iOS mobile devices.
4. Rescue Time
Rescue Time should be used by all WordPress users. It shows how you have managed your time, including the time spent on Facebook or Twitter. Rescue Time motivates its users to improve their daily productivity percentage—the main reason I am featuring it here. Additionally, you can set goals and block distracting websites.
I was reluctant to use it until I started to block Facebook on desktop, allowing myself to use it for only 30 minutes a day. I considerably reduced the time spend on Facebook, so I strongly recommend using it.
5. WunderList
‘Plans are of little importance, but planning is essential’, said Winston Churchill. He didn’t know that his words would be true even for the WordPress community.
WunderList is an excellent application for everyone committed to maximising productivity. It lets you create to-do lists and share them with co-workers. WunderList works on any kind of device and syncs instantly. It’s simple and effective like making a to-do list should be.
6. XAMPP
It’s not advisable to test new themes and plugins directly on your site, let alone tweak the layout, design, or add new features. In this context, a localhost environment works miracles. You can perform all of your updates and adjustments on a local copy before making any changes to your live version. XAMPP is all you need to create a stable working localhost environment.
XAMPP is an Apache distribution including MySQL, PHP, and Pearl, and its magic power is its ease of installation and use. It’s free of charge and works on Windows, Mac, and Linux. Check out this tutorial to learn how to install XAMPP on your computer.
7. What WP Theme Is That
Have you ever admired a cool WordPress site and were curious about the theme used? Avoid the guesswork and wasting time by leveraging the power of What WP Theme Is That. Copy the site’s URL, paste it in the search form, and it will display the site’s theme in just a few seconds. Additionally, it shows you what plugins were used on the site checked.
8. Theme Check
This tool is quite handy for theme developers who want to contribute to the WordPress repository. This plugin compares your theme against latest theme guidelines. The plugin’s developers have clearly stated that their work is perfectible, and it works only for WordPress repository submissions.
9. WPRoller
The most significant disadvantage of WPRoller is their website, which isn’t very attractive; you may be tempted to avoid visiting such a site. However, hold your horses and give it a test drive.
WPRoller is a WordPress installer that will save you a lot of time. It creates a package of WordPress software, plugins, and themes from the WordPress repository and GitHub. With it, you will install not only WordPress on your host but also the themes and plugins needed without that annoying back-and-forth work when searching for them.
10. IFTTT
If This Then That is a time-saving app that enables users to create simple chains of conditional statements. Automating tasks for your WordPress sites is only a limited aspect; for instance, IFTTT lets you turn your lights on or off with one tap on your phone.
Create an account on IFTTT and search for WordPress applets (sequences of conditional statements). These applets can help you connect your blog to social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube), automatically pin new posts on Pinterest boards, cross-post from WordPress to Tumblr or Blogger, or post a Pocket article to your WordPress blog.
11. Uptime Robot
Uptime Robot is a must-have tool if you manage multiple sites. Instead of checking the availability of each site, let Uptime Robot do it for you. You can monitor up to 50 sites with a free account, which will test the sites’ availability every five minutes.
Premium accounts are for people monitoring more than 50 websites, and you get more features, such as one-minute monitoring intervals, SMS notifications, and maintenance windows (intervals when Uptime Robot doesn’t check the site).
12. Pic Monkey
Pic Monkey is an easy-to-use app that creates beautiful images for your WordPress sites. More or less, each WordPress user should have a few favourite tools for editing pictures, and Pic Monkey fully deserves to be on your radar. It empowers you to use countless photo effects for any type of projects, such as logos, business cards, infographics, posters, retouching, and wedding invitations. Pic Monkey comes with many templates specifically for social media.
You can use Pic Monkey on your smartphone—both Android and iOS. You can create a featured image for your next blog post while you are commuting.
13. Grammarly
Grammarly is an irreplaceable tool for bloggers and marketers, especially for those who aren’t native English speakers. It’s probably the best online grammar checker, and it’s trusted by tons of people.
Grammarly could be a precious tool for a developer. Leads and customers will judge your skills based on your grammar, even if you provide a WordPress service.
Grammarly helps you avoid shameful grammar, spelling, or punctuation mistakes or overuse of certain words. It works as a Google Chrome browser extension, a desktop application, and an MS Word extension. Sooner, a Grammarly extension for Google Docs will also be available.
I suggest using the free version. Test it for your needs, and only after that make a decision if you want to buy the pro version or not.
14. Hemmingway App
As a WordPress admin or maintainer, you probably send tons of emails to clients. Your style and grammar matter a lot, so you have to keep your writing impeccable. It’s true that your email message isn’t a blog post or an academic paper, but strive to write correctly, clearly, and concisely.
Hemmingway App is extensively used by content creators, but you may use it for longer emails. You will spend more time composing your emails, but in the long-run, this app will contribute to a better personal brand.
15. Pocket
Pocket is not only for WordPress users but anyone who doesn’t want to miss a good piece of content. Its primary aim is to save your preferred URLs. For instance, if you were reading a quality article about WordPress, but a client interrupted you with a stringent issue for example, then you could save it on your Pocket account and read it when you are free.
Pocket is a genuine read-it-later application, but it comes with enhanced functionality. You can arrange your saved links, and it has sections for topic exploration or recommended articles.
16. A Soft Murmur
Creating a good environment for work is capital in being productive. Some people prefer working in silence while others prefer listening to their favourite music. Some people have even tried to improve their efficiency by using ambient noise. A Soft Murmur is an excellent application (for web, Android, and iOS) that creates various ambient sound. You can listen to rain, thunder, wind, fire, waves, birds, crickets, a singing bowl, white noise, or a coffee shop.
Do you want to mix these sounds to create your own mix? Don’t worry! The app lets you mix them and share your result on social media. Pretty impressive, isn’t it?
17. Awesome WordPress Plugins
This isn’t a conventional tool, but I believe that this list of awesome WordPress plugins is valuable for plenty of users, admins, and maintainers.
Some developers contributed to a curated list of plugins that fall into different categories such as gallery, slider, SEO, forms, ads, forums, and so on. Consult this list anytime you need a professional recommendation for a plugin.
18. Awesome WordPress
This is another GitHub project that streamlines the work of WordPress developers. It consists of a list of themes, frameworks, plugins, classes, websites, and books. All of the items are carefully checked, so you will find much value in this list.
19. Trello
Flying solo is pretty cool, but WordPress is amazingly complex, and the developers have to work in teams to accomplish complex projects. Working collaboratively isn’t a fad—it’s a stringent necessity. Trello is a famous tool for teamwork, and armies of developers are satisfied with it. The interface is nice and simple, works and syncs on any device, and empowers you to work with multiple teams independently. If you work with partners, Trello fully deserves your attention.
20. Evernote
Evernote is suitable for working collaboratively, but its primary aim is to help people take notes. Some people call it an extension of your brain, and that is almost no exaggeration. Your Evernote account keeps your notes, ideas, lists, and reminders in a single place. As a result, you won’t lose time trying to remember where your notes are.
Evernote has three pricing plans, including a free one with a few limitations that fits well for solopreneurs.
21. SaneBox
You can’t be productive if you don’t keep your inbox well-organised. SaneBox promises to organise your emails and keep only important emails in your inbox while distracting emails are filtered and sent to the SaneLater folder. SaneBox has many other pragmatic features, such as blocking disturbing senders, unsubscribing from unattractive emails, tracking messages, and setting email reminders.
Conclusion
You are probably familiar with some of the above tools. I tried to cover as many aspects as possible and come up with original solutions. However, tools like Evernote and Trello are too good not to mention.
Over to you! Would you attest to any of the above suggestions? Please let me know what your favourite tools are, and which of my recommendations captivated your attention.
