Think about this- when you first thought about creating your website, you had a great idea in mind. You did everything right, came up with an amazing plan, found bigrock coupons for domain registration at the correct time, and finally, created a perfect looking, good to visit WordPress website. Then what?
Driving traffic to your site and persuading users to stick around is where most people struggle, but, in reality, it’s not that difficult. You just need an effective tool that keeps people from dispersing and give them a reason to come back.
We are talking about forum plugins. Forums are a way of communication; they keep your users connected, and form a virtual community containing like-minded people. This is one of the most supportive tools we have come across. It lets you support your users when they face issues, works as a social platform for people who share similar interests, and sometimes if you are lucky enough, it increases your SEO ranking.
So let’s see some of the best WordPress forum plugins
When it’s about forum plugins for WordPress, no doubt, bbPress is the best option available. If you have ever visited WordPress forums, then you already know how well this plugin works.
It utilizes WordPress core, and if you hate slow forums, then bbPress ensures that this does not happen to your forum.
You can integrate bbPress effortlessly with WordPress, without any major modifications. It is fast, lightweight, and offers 200+ extensions for increased flexibility. The only drawback bbPress has is that it is not enough for a feature-rich and classy forum.
DW question & answer plugin is another great tool for creating a Q&A type forum, wherein people can ask and search for questions/answers, use filters, and vote answers they like.
A forum created with DW question & answer can be easily used as a support service, it will enhance user engagement. Additional features like sticky question, CAPTCHA, public/private questions and answers, etc., make this a perfect plugin for Q&A forums. DW question & answer has some add-ons and also a premium version.
- Embed question and Social Sharing
- DWQA Captcha
- DWQA Markdown
- DWQA Leaderboard
CM answers is another Q&A WordPress forum plugin,it provides enough to create a decent stack overflow like forum where users can ask questions, post answers, and have a discussion. The plugin flawlessly integrates with WordPress themes and give users an option to vote questions and answers, comment, and upload files.
Most of its main features are accessible to premium members, and the free version is rather basic. So if you want a full-fledged forum then consider the premium version.
BuddyPress is a better option than other plugins if you are willing to create a social network. Many businesses are already using BuddyPress as a social community to have discussions regarding events and other activities.
It lets users create profile, interact in groups, have private chats, etc. and the website also has support for latest updates and queries.
Simple:Press is a free plugin that integrates with your WordPress effortlessly. If you want to see a live example, then they have their own forum to help you install the plugin and for other queries.
According to them, Simple:Press can be customized and designed based on your requirements, it has an extendable architecture supported by extensive plugin library.
With this, our list of top 5 forum plugins for WordPress ends here. We hope this will help you find a great plugin,but it all depends on your requirements. Spare some time, check out all the features, and decide what type of forum you want to create. All the best and if you liked the article don’t forget to share it.