If you’ve ever built a WordPress website, you know that one tiny tweak can lead to an entire weekend of hunching over your computer to “just fix one more thing.” When mere website-building mortals make plans, the universe laughs. To combat the woes that assault even the savviest site owner out there, there are a handful of weird and fun WordPress plugins that will lighten the mood — once you’ve installed and set them up, of course. Luckily, these are all quite easy to work with, and you may even have some fun rolling them out.
What Are Weird and Fun WordPress Plugins?
In a world of WordPress plugins that make your website faster and safer, the “weird and fun” variety makes your site more enjoyable. Which, to get all technical about it, means these plugins improve the user experience, increase engagement, and help SEO as visitors spend a long time on your site. Weird, fun WordPress plugins range from the truly odd (there’s one that displays Rick Astley lyrics on your dashboard — we didn’t include that one here) to the remarkably helpful. Unfortunately, a lot of them are out of date now, so we combed through the options to bring you the best zany plugins that are also safe to use because they’re (currently) well-maintained.
Why You Should Use Weird and Fun WordPress Plugins
Amusement-focused plugins have a lot of benefits, especially if you pair the right plugin with your specific audience and purpose. For example, there are plugins that let you customize stats, ratings, and votes for display on your site. In addition to injecting fun into the stats you display or the icons your site uses for ratings, this type of information incentivizes visitors to take action. If they see that thousands of people have subscribed to your newsletter or your products have high ratings, they’ll want to follow suit.
There are also plugins that gamify your website by creating a points system and awarding high-performing participants. This is great for sites that have a bunch of pages or areas to visit but struggle with a high bounce rate. By giving visitors something — or a lot of somethings — to do, you can keep them there for longer and direct them where you need them to go.
Plugins that let you integrate interactive content with your website — quizzes, learning simulators, audio, etc. — are excellent for learning-based sites. But beyond educators using these plugins, they can also enhance sites where visitors will benefit from more knowledge. For example, if you run a beauty products site, quizzing visitors about their skin type can match them with the right products. The more users get out of your site, the more likely it is that they’ll return and recommend it to others.
7 Best Weird and Fun WordPress Plugins
We’ve gathered our seven favorite weird and fun WordPress plugins. No matter what type of website you run, you’re bound to find something here that can be included to impress your visitors and keep them engaged for longer.
1. Counter Number
The Counter Number plugin lets you add fun (and serious) counters to your website so your visitors can see important stats. And not-so-important ones, too. Show the number of projects completed, newsletter subscribers, awards achieved, etc. Mix in some cutesy stats, too, like how many pets are in your office or how many hours have been spent discussing Stranger Things.
Key Features of Counter Number
- Customize icons, titles, and stat counter per entry.
- Change the font family, font size, and colors of the counter.
- Drag-and-drop functionality.
- Add to your site via shortcodes.
Counter Number is for you if…
- You have real stats to display and want to combine them with fake stats to be entertaining.
- There are impressive stats that will incentivize visitors to take action.
Counter Number Pricing: Free or $12 for Counter Number Pro | Learn More About Counter Number
2. Custom Ratings
If you think having 4 out of 5 stars is good, imagine having 4 out of 5 … Scott Baio headshots? Or purple shopping bags, ice cream cones with smiley faces or dirty martinis. The Custom Ratings plugin lets visitors rate your product or service with images that go beyond the typical stars. We give that 5 out of 5 pumpkin heads.
Key Features of Custom Ratings
- Upload your own image (or use the built-in options).
- Half-ratings are accepted (3.5 “stars,” for example).
- Both ratings and votes can be created.
Custom Ratings is for you if…
- You have products or services (or another type of content) that users can rate or vote for.
- It’s important to you to brand or customize every element of your website.
Custom Ratings Pricing: Free | Learn More About Custom Ratings
3. Football Pool
Football Pool adds a fantasy sports pool to your WordPress website, letting site visitors predict match outcomes. You can also add single-answer and multiple-choice bonus questions to give visitors the chance to earn more points. It could be fun to implement this on lesser-used pages on your site to be a treat for people who happen to stumble on it. Or even as part of an exclusive area for registered users.
Key Features of Football Pool
- Can be used with information for any championship or sport.
- Players can view charts and scores of other participants.
- Pool ranking can be automatically calculated.
- Import/export the game schedule.
- Add extra informational pages for teams or venues.
- Display info using shortcodes or widgets.
Football Pool is for you if…
- You have a website for fantasy sports.
- You want to add a fun feature hidden away on your site.
- The audience for your business website includes sports fans.
Football Pool Pricing: Free | Learn More About Football Pool
4. GamiPress
Gamify your WordPress website with GamiPress and surprise visitors with digital awards based on how they interact with your site. Customize requirements and the achievements for completing those requirements, award users with points when they interact with your site in specific ways, and set ranks that users can climb through.
Key Features of GamiPress
- Set different types of points (coins, gems, etc.), achievements (badges, quests, etc.), and ranks (grades, levels, etc.).
- Automatically reward or deduct points for users.
- Set a time period for a requirement to be met, like hourly, monthly, or annually.
- Drag-and-drop controls for setup.
- Blocks, shortcodes, and widgets display game stats to users.
- Users can share what they’ve earned on social networks.
GamiPress is for you if…
- Students visit your website and will benefit by interacting more with your content.
- You want to encourage shoppers to visit different parts of your store’s website.
- You run a membership site and want members to stay logged in for longer.
GamiPress Pricing: Free | Learn More About GamiPress
5. H5P
The H5P plugin has an assortment of interactive content to add to your site, including an audio recorder, collages, fill-in-the-blanks, flashcards, hotspots, memory games, presentations, quizzes, timelines, and videos. While this plugin can be used on all sorts of websites, it seems to be most beloved by educators who find different types of interactive content key to engaging students. Or just users in general.
Key Features of H5P
- Limitless content types to encourage visitors to interact with your website.
- Most tests are responsive and easily viewable on smaller devices.
- Shortcode can be inserted wherever you want interactive content to appear.
H5P is for you if…
- You know you want to create an interactive site, but you’re not sure what type of content will perform well.
- You run an education website and your students have different ways of learning.
- Having interactive elements would enhance otherwise mundane content.
H5P Pricing: Free | Learn More About H5P
6. myCred
“Points management system” doesn’t have a weird or fun ring to it, but it’s actually a fancy way of saying “gamify.” Similar to GamiPress, myCred lets you create a points system for visitors, awarding digital surprises like badges and ranks.
Key Features of myCred
- Award users with badges, points, or ranks.
- Automation for depositing points on a schedule.
- Points can be used to buy products.
- Points can be exchanged between members.
- The website owner can manage points, including adding or deducting them from a user’s profile.
- Gutenberg block support.
myCred is for you if…
- You want to increase how much time visitors spend on your site and which pages they visit.
- You’re willing to apply points toward purchases, which will encourage visitors to engage more.
myCred Pricing: Free or membership starting at $149 per year | Learn More About myCred
7. Quiz Cat – WordPress Quiz Plugin
Quiz Cat is a WordPress quiz plugin that lets you create all sorts of engaging quizzes with the potential to go viral. It’s easy to set up a quiz in just a few minutes, and you can test someone’s knowledge, ask trivia questions or design a personality quiz.
Key Features of Quiz Cat
- Drag-and-drop interface to move around questions and answers.
- Dedicated Quiz Cat block for Gutenberg.
- Display your quiz anywhere that supports shortcodes.
- Fully responsive for all devices.
Quiz Cat is for you if…
- You have a BuzzFeed-type audience who will love taking quizzes.
- Quizzes can be incorporated into your blog posts.
Quiz Cat Pricing: Free, with Premium starting at $49 | Learn More About Quiz Cat
Final Thoughts on Weird and Fun WordPress Plugins
Those plugins and what you can get out of them only scratch the surface. There are a lot of fun WordPress plugins to choose from, and some of them have multiple uses. It’s up to you to creatively integrate their features with your site in a way that will wow users. We can’t wait to see what fun sites you come up with!
The post 7 Most Fun WordPress Plugins appeared first on Elegant Themes Blog.
