Did you knowEssential WordPress Plugins Every Website Owner Should Install
Bloggers love WordPress because this platform makes it possible to create a fully functional website for free, and without any programming or coding skills.
One would probably wonder how this could happen on an open source platform, but the secrets are the 40,000 and more WordPress plugins offered by the platform’s Plugin Directory, whose functions add extra features and capabilities.
Using these plugins, you will cease hiring professional programmers to do the heavy part of the job, and build a professional website at a fraction of the cost you’d otherwise pay.
It is because of this that plugins are considered as amazing solutions, but as expected, there is a catch in the process – the more plugins you install on your website, the longer loading times will be, and you’ll end up having a bunch of dysfunctional pages users bounces because content is simply not displayed. Therefore, be picky when selecting your add-ons, and choose only such that can really boost your performance.
1. Accelerating the blog’s performance
Slow loading times are destructive for the success of your website, because that’s the most annoying thing customers can experience when landing on your page.
Loading times are also important for your SERP position, as Google uses a special algorithm to estimate it, paying special attention to the loading time of your mobile versions. The problem of slow loading can be solved with the main plugins:
W3 Total Cache
W3 Total Cache is one of the most feature-robust plugins that does more than caching. If you configure it properly, it will affect loading times beyond any problem additional plugins can cause.
WP Super Cache
Quite similar to W3 Total Cache, WP Super Cache serves deliberately generated static HTML pages to readers, instead of displaying the original dynamic ones that need time to load.
2. Making sure your blog is secure
The hottest issue when it comes to WordPress websites was and will be security. It is absolutely normal for the biggest CMS platform to be a common hacker target, so make sure your website is secure with few plugins that will keep it locked.
iThemes Security
This is one of WordPress’s simplest and most straightforward plugins. It takes few seconds to set it up, and a single click to put it in action. If interested, you can tweak some of its exclusive add-ons, and make sure your blog is even safer.
Wordfence
The thing about Wordfence is that it offers bank-grade security for free, thanks to its extremely robust features that nevertheless won’t require you to reinvent the wheel to use them.
Jetpack
Jetpack is another popular name when it comes to WordPress security, as it also enhances better site performance, offers a variety of content modification options, and tools for visual engagement.
3. Backing it up
Once we’re talking about security issues, why not considering backup as well? Many website owners take backup for granted and rely too seriously on their web host’s promise that their data will be safe in case of any failure. What we recommend you do is to restore control over your data, ideally with a free plugin that will serve the purpose.
Another thing you must have in mind is to choose a plugin that performs a full backup, rather than a database one.
BackupBuddy
When choosing a backup plugin, the priority should always be reliability. BackupBuddy is exactly the type of plugin to trust, full of time-saving features and easy to use. The coolest thing about it is that you can use it even on servers different than WordPress – its functionality won’t be affected.
BackWPup
BackWPup is probably the best backup plugin you can get for free, not exactly luxurious, but still packed with all helpful features that will protect your data. In case you like it, you can always upgrade to the premium package, where a support team will do the backup instead of you.
4. Controlling 404 errors and managing redirects
Once the URL of your post has changed, you need to make sure the guest will be redirected to another functional URL.
For the purpose, you have to allow access to that URL both for your readers and search engines, because not doing so can mess up with users’ experience. In the worst scenario, it may even lead a completely corrupted website where no one but you can access the content.
The thing to do in such case is to enable 301 redirects, so that the URL will become permanent, and you won’t have to monitor its performance.
However, have in mind that you may wish to redirect users elsewhere and that you’ll eventually switch to the original URL too (happens quite often with e-commerce sites). In cases like that one, you need to stay alerted for 404 errors and make sure you monitor them pro-actively to add the right redirects for your users.
Redirection
Redirection is the definition of a lightweight and handy plugin that cleans WordPress chaos for you. It manages all URL redirects on your behalf, and monitors 404s to log errors as soon as they happen.
5. Optimizing the blog to make it search-engine-ready
Optimizing a blog for SERP purposes is not as easy as you perceived to be before you jumped on the bandwagon. There are a lot of bells and whistles involved, but luckily just as many plugins that can deal with them.
All in One SEO Pack
Just as the name indicates, All in One SEO Pack acts as a complete feature manager that selects the most usable optimization tricks and applies them to your blog. For instance, it may exclude file editors where not necessary, but activate XML Sitemaps that are useful for every blog.
Yoast SEO
If there is WordPress plugin everybody has heard of, that’s Yoast SEO. This popular SEO assistant offers a wide range of optimization features, including XML Sitemaps, SEO scores for individual pages, adding OpenGraph data, and much more.
6. Progress monitoring and analytics
Monitoring and analytics don’t always require plugins, but rather simple tracking codes inserted directly on the theme or even such that are already there. Nevertheless, these plugins come with extra functionality that is definitely worth of considering.
Google Analyticator
Google Analyticator is a plugin where Google Analytic codes can be embedded directly to stop logged users with specific roles from being tracked.
Clicky by Yoast
In the WordPress ecosystem, Yoast is a symbol of great quality, which is why we recommend you to try out Clicky. Easy to use as it is, Clicky adds tracking codes to every blog without the blogger being necessarily involved in the process.
7. Managing teams for better editorial processes
A serious drawback of WordPress compared to similar platforms is that it doesn’t manage editorial teams and processes. Once in, you’re on your own, and you should consider functionality plugins that can help you manage your blog.
Edit Flow
Edit Flow is one of the rare plugins that manage editorial workflows end-to-end, and give you a useful calendar to depict posting overlays and visualize the frequency of your posting. At the same time, you will get a grasp on a unique editorial comments section, where all contributors can share and discuss their posts, and receive notifications each time a new contributor joins.
Editorial Calendar
Compared to Edit Flow, Editorial Calendar is way easier to use and enables bloggers to set and monitor posting dates and switch those with a handy drag-and-drop functionality.
SumoMe
Adding opt-in forms is quite easy with SumoMe, which is excellent for beginners because it’s free. At the same time, the product offers a variety of mobile apps designed for lead generation and list building.
8. Fast building of convertible landing pages
The rationale behind the entire landing page idea is to avoid distractions for visitors and to motivate them to convert. That’s why it is essential to have a reliable plugin that will build them.
LeadPages
More than a simple plugin, LeadPages is a complete landing form builder which covers the entire creation and hosting procedure up to the delivery of digital access. Thereof, it is the handiest asset you can attach to your WordPress blog.
OptimizePress
This is another reliable plugin that creates high-quality landing pages easily and can be used for a variety of similar marketing pages.
9. Enabling social sharing
Regardless of what you’ve done to make your blog perfect, readers will still surpass it if the content is not good, or cannot be accessed easily. Thereof, think of plugins that can help you share content on social networks, where most people are likely to see it.
Social Warfare
Social Warfare has all that it takes to drive traffic from social networks, allowing you to make unique posts with creative descriptions and imagery. What is really specific about it is that you can use it for Pinterest as well.
Share by SumoMe
SumoMe has a powerful content distribution option, which empowers you to add share buttons to your posts for various locations. More than a single button, you can add entire floating bars for social interaction, but the system will require you to have a registered account in order to give people a complete list of sharing options.
10. Contact forms
WPForms
WPForms stands for the most startup-friendly contact forms plugin, and that’s because of the easy drag-and-drip builder for contact forms. In fact, you can also use it to create order forms, email subscriptions, payment forms, or even more specific ones within minutes.
Contact Form 7
Contact Form 7 can manage multiple contact forms, plus you can customize the form and the mail contents flexibly with simple markup.
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