WordPress is easily one of the most popular and influential blogging and content management systems for websites available online today. And while it has loads of great features and offers fantastic flexibility to users there is, unfortunately, a range of capabilities that are lacking from the core software. However, these missing functionalities can be found elsewhere, all you need is to locate the right plugins.
WordPress plugins, of which there are over 40,000 to choose from, offer site admins all kinds of customization, but with so many to choose from it can be difficult to know which to choose and which to avoid. To some extent, the right plugins for your website or blog will depend on what sort of website you have, but there are some plugins that everybody should have. When it comes to security and speed, these are universal concerns for every website owner and blog user, and certainly something they should pay special attention to.
Plugins are a very handy tool when it comes to reducing your workload, and there is literally a plugin for every function or feature that you could need or want for your website. If you thought the only issue you might face would be choosing which plugins suit your needs best, then it is worth remembering that there are both free and premium plugins available, and if that is not enough there are also freemiums. Freemium plugins are free with the option to upgrade them to a premium version later, giving access to more advanced features.
Default plugins
It is worth mentioning that WordPress comes with two default plugins:
Akismet – this plugin checks whether any comments you have made look like spam, checking them against the Akismet web service. It also allows you to manage the spam it catches and after 15 days it automatically deletes old spam.
Hello Dolly – This was the world first ever WordPress Plugin. Named for the song that was famously sung by Louis Armstrong, when this plugin is enabled every page of your administration screens will randomly show a lyric from the song in the upper right corner.
Must-have Plugins
Here are just a few of the best WordPress plugins, regarding SEO, security, speed optimisation, marketing and social media.
Akismet
Okay, cheating a little as we have already mentioned this one, but it is worth mentioning again! Akismet is a freemium plugin, developed by the fantastic people behind WordPress and is essentially an anti-spam plugin that comes with every new WordPress core installation. If yours is a personal site or blog then it is free to use, commercial sites with a need to subscribe to a monthly plan. This is well worth using, not only will it protect your WordPress security but you have it anyway. If you want to use the premium plan, this will also provide you with advanced security solutions.
Google XML Sitemaps
An SEO plugin, and a very useful one at that. Google XML Sitemaps, which is a free plugin, helps the search engines, Google, Bing and Yahoo to name just a few with its special XML sitemap for better indexing of your site. Once you activate the plugin, it creates an automatic XML sitemap for your website making it easy to index; this enables the more efficient retrieval of results for your site by allowing search engine bots to view it
Whenever you publish something on your site, it notifies all the major search engines.
Jetpack
Jetpack takes care of your site security, but It can also deal with website performance and appearance, traffic growth, image optimisation and a whole lot more. It can create sitemaps so that
Another powerful plugin from the WordPress software team, and a free one at that, not only does search engines are easily able to index your site, and it enhanced distribution function automatically shares any content you publish with search engines helping you increase traffic and reach. The security features allow you to protect your site from attacks as well as monitoring the site and letting you know if there are any issues.
Jetpack’s mobile theme option is designed for both phones and tablets and is very responsive.
Social Icons
Another free plugin, Social Icons offers you an easy way to add all the popular social media icons to your website, making it a great tool for boosting your social media marketing.
MailChimp
A freemium plugin, MailChimp is a popular email marketing tool which allows you to manage subscribers, send an email and track any results. It is easy to integrate into WordPress and supports all the major form plugins such as Contact Form 7 and WooCommerce etc.
Obviously, these are just a few of the huge number of WordPress plugins that are available to assist you. A full list of all the available plugins can be found in the WordPress plugin directory – but we can also advise on what may be best for your specific needs, so why not get in touch and we’ll be happy to support you, providing actionable advice and support to help make your WordPress website the best it can be!
