Discover nearly 100 of the best WordPress plugins to help you do everything from run a membership site or sell ebooks, to create cool image galleries and get your posts shared across social media, and more… so bookmark this post, share it with your friends, then dive right in!
Is your blog “plugged in”? One of the coolest things about WordPress is the flexibility we’ve got to add new features and tools with plugins.
Readers, clients and friends frequently ask me which plugins I recommend for which tasks or goals. So here’s my “ultimate guide” to great WordPress plugins, organized by function/goal. This is based on plugins I’ve either used personally, on a client’s site, or come highly recommended from colleagues.
- Easier Editing & Posting
- Cool Design Tricks
- Social Network Sharing & Integration
- Improve Your Comments
- Help Readers Find More Content They’ll Love
- Combat Spam Comments & Trackbacks
- Speed Up Your Blog
- Be Search Engine Friendly
- Add a Contact (or Other) Form
- Affiliate Promotions
- Your RSS Feed
- Build Your List, Promote Your Stuff
- Secure Your Blog
- Track Your Statistics
- Create Sales & Landing Pages
- Add Images & Galleries to Your Blog
- Add Audio & Video to Your Blog
- Working with Genesis Themes
- ECommerce & Membership Sites
- WordPress Ninja & Beyond
Important: Always BACKUP your blog before installing new plugins. Do NOT try to install ALL of these plugins on your blog! I’m not recommending that. I only run about 30 of the plugins listed here, based on my own needs and goals. Pick yours the same way, okay?
I’d love to know what your favorite plugins are and what might be missing from my list. Leave me a comment, okay? And if you find this helpful please share it.
Editorial Calendar
If you’ve ever wished there were an easier way to view what posts you’ve got scheduled for when and an easier way to move around your upcoming posts, you want the Editorial Calendar plugin!
And here’s how it works: http://youtu.be/ByZ6JpV9sjk
Get the Details or Download
TinyMCE Advanced
TinyMCE Advanced will let you add more options to your editor so you can pick your font family, font size, etc. and have more control over what your posts look like.
Get the Details or Download
After the Deadline
Spend less time editing with this spell, grammar, and style checking plugin. (Also built in to the Jetpack Plugin.)
Get the Details or Download
Fontific
Google offers hundreds of fonts from crazy fun to elegant cursive and everything in between. With this plugin you can easily spice up your design with Google fonts without digging into code and stylesheets.
Get the Details or Download
Simple Author Highlighter
Make it easy to see where you’ve commented with this plugin that allows you to style the author’s comments on each post (for example, with a colored background). Tip: You can also do this by editing your code (stylesheet & theme).
Get the Details or Download
WP Testimonials
An easier way to manage the testimonials on your website (and even add them to a widget in your sidebar). See this one in action here: Barham Virtual Assistance.
Get the Details or Download
WP Greet Box
This could fit under Ninja tricks, social networking… or design tricks. If you’ve seen blogs that have a friendly “greeting” box at the top of the post welcoming you from Facebook, Twitter or where ever you came from and inviting you to follow the blogger or share the post on that same network, it’s not magic–it’s probably this plugin. (Or What Would Seth Godin Do.)
Get the Details or Download
WordPress FAQ Manager
Simple way to manage your frequently asked questions (FAQ) page.
Get the Details or Download
Gravatar Widget
Want one of those cool “About the Author” type boxes in your sidebar? You can do it with this plugin.
Get the Details or Download
TweetMeme
Want your posts shared more on Twitter? Try this cute little green button! It’s one of the most popular tweeting services across the internet.
Get the Details or Download
SexyBookmarks/Shareaholic
This is my personal favorite for inviting people to share my posts because it includes the obvious call to action text and arrow, and the icons jump when your mouse touches them. See it in action at the bottom of any of my blog posts.
Get the Details or Download
AddThis
Another option for adding a row of social bookmarking icons at the bottom of your posts. You can use this service on almost any website. There are instructions on their website for different ways to integrate it.
Get the Details or Download
DiggDigg
DiggDigg adds a floating box of social sharing buttons on your pages (right or left). You can customize which of the sharing buttons are shown.
Get the Details or Download
GetSocial
Like DiggDigg, this plugin adds a floating social media sharing box on your pages. You can customize what’s shown. I’m currently using this one.
Get the Details or Download
Wibiya Toolbar
Wibiya is a toolbar you can install that floats on the bottom of the screen and offers social sharing options, a search box, and more. Very cool way to keep visitors on your website longer since they can watch your YouTube videos and more from right on your website.
Get the Details or Download
Tweet Old Post
You know all that fantastic content you’ve got in your archives that isn’t getting noticed anymore? Use this plugin and it will share older posts on Twitter for you. You can set how often you want it to share and which posts to share (or not share).
Get the Details or Download
Twitterlink Comments
Get to know your commenters on Twitter! This plugin will add a box to your comment form to collect Twitter IDs and then display them along with the comments. (Built into CommentLuv Premium.)
Get the Details or Download
Pinterest RSS Widget
Easily add a widget showing your latest pins on Pinterest and an invitation to follow you with this plugin.
Get the Details or Download
Pin Button Attraction
Make it obvious that you want your images shared on Pinterest, and super easy for visitors, with this plugin. It adds a “pin this” button link to your images on mouseover. As you upload each image to your blog you can choose whether you want it to be pinnable.
Get the Details or Download (Paid)
CommentLuv
There are two versions of CommentLuv: free and premium. It’s one of my top all time favorite plugins because it rewards my commenters for leaving their thoughts and it gives me a simple way to get to know them better and visit their latest blog posts.
The premium version combines 7 different plugins into one plugin for you including TwitterLink ID, GASP (anti-spam) and more.
How it works: http://youtu.be/nWgQGfDqEtw (the sale mentioned isn’t available now, but the features are all there)
Get the Details or Download (Free Version)
Subscribe to Comments Reloaded
Do your commenters know when a new comment has been made on your posts? With this plugin they can. It adds a checkbox to your comment area so they can request an email if someone else comments, or replies to their comment.
Get the Details or Download
Show Top Commentators
Add a widget to your sidebar to feature your top commentors with a link to their websites. Great way to reward your most active commentors.
Get the Details or Download
Comment Redirect by Yoast
Create a special landing page for first-time commenters to say thank you with this cool plugin.
Get the Details or Download
Social by MailChimp
Bring together your comments, tweets and more on each post with Social. See it in action at the bottom of this post. It searches for social shares and comments and brings them back to your blog so you can approve and display them as comments on your post.
Get the Details or Download
nRelate
nRelate adds a row of thumbnail + title links to related blog posts, below each post on your blog to help keep readers engaged and browsing your website longer.
You can also use it to setup links with similar sites to yours and share traffic with other bloggers by adding their URLs in the widget.
Get the Details or Download
LinkWithin
LinkWithin is similar to nRelate and allows you to show related posts with images and titles. You can generate a customized widget at their official website.
Get the Details or Download
Yet Another Related Post Plugin
If you prefer a text listing of posts you can use this plugin instead of the two image based ones above.
Get the Details or Download
GASP Anti-Spam
This plugin will add a checkbox below your comment box asking commenters to check the box if they’re real. If you’re getting a lot of automated spam it may help stop it.
Get the Details or Download
Simple Trackback Validation
Fighting with a lot of trackback spam? This will block those fake trackbacks from spammy websites.
Get the Details or Download
W3 Total Cache
Speed up your blog. This plugin works nicely with many other plugins as well as content delivery network (CDN). I recommend watching the video at the link below to understand how it works.
Get the Details or Download
WP Super Cache
Another caching plugin, this one is simpler than W3 Total Cache and easier to setup. Good for shared hosting accounts.
Get the Details or Download
WP Smush.it
Large images can really slow down the time it takes for your website to load. Speed it up by using this plugin to “smush” (optimize) images as you upload them. Just install, customize settings, and then it does the work behind the scenes.
Get the Details or Download
All In One SEO
The most popular plugin for making your posts more search engine optimized. This adds support for various things like optimized titles, meta tags, etc. you can use it right out of the box or fine tune it.
Get the Details or Download
Scribe SEO
Scribe combines control over your titles, meta tags, etc with tools that help you research keywords and check your content optimization.
Video: See it in action
Free SEO Report: Click here to download
Get the Details or Download (Paid)
Yoast SEO
Featured packaged plugin for SEO. This one incorporates more control than All in One SEO.
Get the Details or Download
Contact Form 7
Contact Form 7 allows you to build multiple forms for your website with text fields, textareas, drop downs, radio buttons and more.
Get the Details or Download
Gravity Forms
This premium plugin has too many features to list. Easily build multi-page forms, integrate with PayPal, MailChimp, AWeber and many more.
Get the Details or Download (Paid)
GoCodes
GoCodes is my favorite way to keep track of my affiliate links. You can read my blog post about it here with all the details: Are You Using a Link Shortener?
Get the Details or Download
WP125
Great for easily managing small square banners in your sidebar widgets.
Get the Details or Download
Feed Layout
Use this plugin to add details to the top and/or bottom of your feed. You could use it to add a copyright notice to the bottom of your posts, to encourage feed readers to subscribe to your ezine or to give away a gift. Be imaginative!
Get the Details or Download
TentBlogger’s Add RSS Footer
Add your own copyright notice, free bonus, or whatever you want to your blog’s RSS feed.
Get the Details or Download
WP Super Popup
Easily add a popup to your site with this plugin. The free version allows you to decide which pages you want it to show on, how much of a delay it should have and more.
Get the Details or Download
Hello Bar
Hello Bar adds a nice, custom colored drop down bar at the top of your website that you can use to promote whatever you’d like.
My review: https://michelleshaeffer.com/cool-tool-have-you-seen-hellobar-yet/2011/04/16/
Get the Details or Download
Subscription Options
Not a “techy” but want to add subscription options to your sidebar so visitors can follow you via RSS, email, Twitter or Facebook? And you want to pick the color of those buttons? No problem, just install this plugin.
Get the Details or Download
Footer Slideup
This plugin adds a subscribe form to slide up from the bottom of your blog posts.
Get the Details or Download:
- AWeber
- Feedburner
- Get Response
AWeber Comment Optin
Using AWeber? Add a checkbox to your comments area inviting your commenters to subscribe to your newsletter/ezine list.
Get the Details or Download
Covert Messenger Pro
If you’ve been on this page for more than about 30 seconds, you’ll see a little box pop up in the bottom right corner offering you a freebie. That’s the Covert Messenger Pro plugin. It’s been extremely effective on my site.
Get the Details or Download (Paid)
MaxBlogPress Stripe Ad
Add a stripe across the top of your pages to promote whatever you’d like with this plugin. Customizable to match your website colors. Choose whether it stays still or hovers at the top as visitors scroll down the screen.
Get the Details or Download
WP Security Scan
Great security checker! This plugin looks at your passwords, file permissions, database security, and other behind the scenes security details and helps you make changes to keep your site more secure.
Get the Details or Download
Threat Scan Plugin
Need to scan your database and files? Threat scan will look for malicious or weird code and help you identify if hackers have been messing with your blog. Useful if you’re trying to recover from being hacked.
Get the Details or Download
Secure WordPress
Easy to use. This plugin goes through your blog and makes small changes to help you stay more secure.
Get the Details or Download
Limit Login Attempts
Does what you’d expect and limits the amount of times someone can attempt to login to your blog. Stops someone from trying to guess your password or run a password cracker script.
Get the Details or Download
JetPack Stats
Jetpack is the WordPress.com plugin that gives you stats tracking and more.
You do need a WordPress.com username (but not a whole blog at WordPress.com) to use this plugin. You can register for just a username at this link: https://en.wordpress.com/signup/?user=1
Get the Details or Download
Google Analyticator
If you prefer to use Google Analytics but aren’t sure how to add the code to your blog, try this plugin.
Get the Details or Download
Blog Metrics
Great for watching stats like comments per post, post per author and more.
Get the Details or Download
Premise by Copyblogger
For creating sales, opt-in, social share and other landing pages within WordPress I recommend using the Premise plugin from Copyblogger. I love it because it’s a plugin and not a theme, so I can keep my “pretty” theme for my main site but customize sales and opt-in pages with Premise.
This one has been absolutely worth the investment for me in terms of the amount of time saved by being able to build sales and opt-in pages inside of WordPress in a few clicks. Plus I can follow tested copywriting advice (even insert example copy with a click) and easily add professional sales page graphics.
Get the Details or Download (Paid)
OptimizePress
This theme allows you to easily create opt-in and sales pages, and works very well for video launches (example: day 1 you share video 2, day 2 you share video 2, day 3 the sales video and page go up). Note that this is actually a theme and not a plugin so you generally need a WordPress installation just for Optimize Press, such as yourdomain.com/pages or similar.
Get the Details or Download (Paid)
Impact Template Editor
Works nicely and allows you to build simple sales and landing pages. For those of you who are looking for a free alternative Premise and OptimizePress, and who just need the basics (it doesn’t have fancy features like graphics, copywriting templates, video launch features, etc that the other two do) this could be the answer!
Get the Details or Download
PhotoDropper
Searching for an easier way to add Creative Commons licensed images to your post? This one might be just the answer.
Get the Details or Download
Compfight
This plugin makes it easy to search just for Creative Commons images licensed for commercial use. Automatically adds the credits and links back to the photographer.
Get the Details or Download
NextGen Gallery
One of the most popular plugins for WordPress, NextGen Gallery comes with all sorts of features and extensions to turn your images into lovely slideshows and gallery displays.
Get the Details or Download
WP-Cycle
Create a beautiful slideshow of your images with WP-Cycle. Each image can link to any URL you choose.
Get the Details or Download
Shutter
For photographers looking to add a gallery with proofing options, Shutter is definitely worth checking out.
Get the Details or Download (Paid)
FooBox
Beautiful responsive options on this gallery so your images can be viewed on mobile devices.
Get the Details or Download (Paid)
WOW Slider
Tons of effects and options in this slider plugin. Only free for non-commercial sites.
Get the Details or Download
WP Audio Player
An easy way to add an mp3 player to your blog for playing your own mp3 files. You can customize the player to whatever color you’d like.
Get the Details or Download
Cinch.fm or AudioBoo.com
If you’d rather not mess with recording/editing/uploading your own audio files, try http://Cinch.fm or http://AudioBoo.com They aren’t plugins but they allow to easily record from your phone or computer and then provide you the necessary code.
WordPress Video Plugin
The easiest way to add YouTube and other videos to your blog is with the WordPress Video Plugin. It allows you to embed videos from 65 different websites using shortcodes.
Step by Step Video: http://www.youtube.com/user/MichelleShaeffer#p/u/12/jeT9haiWh8E
Amazon S3 for WordPress
If you’re hosting your videos with S3, this plugin makes it easier to share them in your posts.
Get the Details or Download
Simple Video Pro from InstaMagic
Premium plugin for adding fancy options along with your embedded videos. Great for sharing webinars and sales videos with time reveals, buy buttons and more.
Get the Details or Download (Paid)
I’m a huge fan of the StudioPress Genesis theme framework. It just rocks. Here are some plugins specifically for Genesis that help it rock even more (and let you make edits much more easily).
Genesis Simple Edits
The easiest way to change things like the footer text, copyright, etc in Genesis themes.
Genesis Simple Hooks
Ready to customize your theme more? Add something to your header or footer? Above your comments? Below your comments? Yeah, you can do that without mucking around in code with this cool plugin.
Get the Details or Download
Genesis Visual Hook Guide
Need a little help figuring out which hook does what, where? Try this plugin and it’ll all make sense.
Get the Details or Download
Genesis 404 Page
No more default 404 page with all your pages and posts listed — make it say whatever you want!
Get the Details or Download
Genesis Response Slider
Perfect way to create a slider featuring your most recent blog posts and their images in Genesis themes. Plus, it’s responsive and auto-resizes to work on mobile displays. Awesome.
Get the Details or Download
BBPress
Created by the developers of WordPress, BBPress allows you to easily add a forum area to your website.
Get the Details or Download
BuddyPress
Build a social network on your WordPress website. Tons of features in this plugin plus more than 300 plugins you can install along with it to extend it’s features.
Get the Details or Download
WP eStore
My choice for simple ecommerce on WordPress. This plugin has a one-time fee, includes customer support, and gives you a secure way to sell digital goods. Integrates with PayPal and other payment processors as well as list services like AWeber and MailChimp. Lots of features.
Also checkout the membership and affiliate module addons available. Very affordable option for a professional store, membership and affiliate setup.
Get the Details or Download (Paid)
DigiShop
Easily sell digital goods (ebooks, etc) through WordPress with this free plugin. Watch a video overview.
Get the Details or Download
s2 Member
Want to create a membership site? S2 Member is worth a look. With free and premium levels, this plugin integrates with multiple payment processors (including PayPal and Clickbank), supports recurring billing, protects posts/pages as well as downloads and more. Watch a video overview.
Get the Details or Download
WishList Member
Super easy way to manage your membership website. Supports dripping (time-released) content and integrates with lots of payment processors and mailing lists. Check out their support videos.
Get the Details or Download (Paid)
Simple 301 Redirect
Moving from something else into WordPress? Use this to easily redirect old URLs/links to their corresponding new pages so you don’t lose traffic or search engine listings.
Get the Details or Download
WP Backup to DropBox
Looking for a simple, reliable way to keep your WordPress blog backed up? Try this plugin.
How it works: How to Backup Your WordPress Website While You Sleep
Get the Details or Download
Widget Logic
Want different widgets (those things in your sidebar) to show up on different pages or areas of your site? Use Widget Logic to tell your blog which widget should show up where.
Get the Details or Download
WP Touch
Create a mobile version of your blog easily with this plugin. Just install, customize a few settings, and it will automatically display a mobile version for those using iPhones or other mobile devices to view your site.
Get the Details or Download
Time.ly Calendar
Add an event calendar to your blog with this plugin. It’s customizable with multiple themes and integrates with many calendar formats (including Google calendar) and will even allow you to import Facebook events.
Get the Details or Download
Search Meter
Wondering what your visitors are searching for? Try search meter and you’ll be able to watch what’s being searched for and see whether your searchers found what they wanted.
Tips on how it works: https://michelleshaeffer.com/in-tribute-to-orwells-1984-im-watching-you/2011/01/08/
Get the Details or Download
GD Star Ratings
Looking for a way to find out what readers think of your posts? Let them rate you with stars or thumbs up. This plugin adds a “rate this post” to your blog.
Get the Details or Download
Broken Link Checker
Easily check your blog for broken links with this plugin.
Get the Details or Download
Your Turn!
I’d love to know what your favorite plugins are and what might be missing from my list. Leave me a comment, okay? And if you find this helpful please share it.
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Awesome list!
Gosh! I need to bookmark this page and come back over the weekend and then read all of these things one by one and then can I let you know what I use and what I don’t. :)
Thanks SO much for this and I would surely be sharing it all over. :)
Thanks, Harleena. Hope you find a few new ones you can use!
What an amazing resource! I really appreciate this share.
Hey Linda, thanks for stopping by! :)
That truly is one of the major benefits of using WordPress. All those ready-made plugins really improve the way your blog functions for both you and your readers. Sage advice, too, about backing up your blog prior to installing anything – just in case!
Yes, you never know and it’s always better to be safe than sorry with backups. ;)
And I agree 100%! WordPress rocks precisely because we can customize and build it out in so many cool ways.
Wow! This is an awesome list! I will definitely be bookmarking this! Be blessed!
Surrendered to Him~
~rose~
Thanks, Rose, appreciate the comment. :)
Wow, this is an amazing list; thanks for putting this together! Bookmarking it now.
You’re welcome, Amy. :)
This rocks! Omg! This is so much better than shoe shopping! Heehee! Tells you what kind of woman I am LOL! Thanks for these and for all of the hard work put into this post.
Oh I don’t know, Lisa… shoe shopping vs. plugins… such a close battle! LOL
Better than shoe shopping? Hm-m-m. I’m going to stop just short of saying that, but adding this amazing list to our collection is surely cheaper than shoe shopping and will make us look good every time.
The one plug-in or tool that I’d like to find and learn is the one that types text across the screen in a PowerPoint or video. What is that?
Thanks.
Michelle – – You rock! You keep giving so much! Do let me know if there’s ever something I can do to try to reciprocate! I’ve tweeted for you… Cheers… Erik
Thanks, Erik, I appreciate you tweeting to share this! :)
Fabulous blog piece and great resource. I have shared it with Marie Forleo’s B School group. Question: I have purchased both Premise and Wishlist and now find out that Premise could have handled my membership level needs. So frustrating. And I’ve also heard that wishlist is not compatible with another back up plug in…. Maybe a topic for another blog post…. compatibilities and duplications.
Thanks, Cindy!
Yes, there’s some overlap between those two with the new features in Premise and it’s membership setup, I’m watching and not-so-patiently (lol) waiting for their addition of the coming affiliate system, then it’ll be the perfect system I think. ;)
Many plugins do have little quirks that can be interesting to work around for sure. It’s great that we’ve got choices between different plugins so we can find the ones that play nice together.
And I’ll definitely consider that for a future post, thanks for the suggestion. :)
What a great list! I’ve already spotted a few that my be interested in – can’t wait to check them out more closely.
Thanks, Michelle, page has been bookmarked!
Awesome! Have fun exploring. :)
Wow that is quite a list. Almost makes me want to move everything over to a paid WP account. I know there is a ton of things I am missing using a free WordPress blog or a Blogger. Nice job. I’m surprised it was only ten hours to write the post. Thanks!
I kind of lost count at that point. LOL Not sure exactly how much time it took but considering it’s really years worth of bookmarks and client projects… probably a scary big number. ;)
It’s definitely been worth it for me to have full control with a WordPress.org setup vs. free WordPress.com, especially since I blog for business and want the freedom to sell ads and promote my services/workshops.
WordPress.com does include some of these plugins in their accounts though. :)
This is a great list, Michelle! As always, you are amazing! Thank you so much for sharing!
Thanks, Kimberly!
Wow Wow Wow – what a list of useable information. I need to put it aside for a bit as I can caught up with checking out each one :-) thank you for putting this together for us! You rock!!
Lynn
Thanks, glad this is helpful. :)
Michelle you are amazing!!! That is truly the best list I have ever seen! Thank you so much from not only myself but all the people who will read this post and benefit from all your hard work!
The work you have put into this is worth a month’s worth of UBC blogging. :)
I may have to count it as that, Kaye. LOL This may be the first challenge I *don’t* post 31 times during…
WP plug-in recommendations:
1. Better WP Security
2. Pretty Link Lite
3. RSS Agrigator
Awesome, I’ll check those out. Thanks for sharing, Christopher!
Hello Michelle,
You “out did yourself.” :-) This post will go down in internet history. Definitely a page I’m going to Bookmark. Thanks for sharing and caring.
Yep – I’ve got this bookmarked, too. LOL It’ll save me time next time I’m searching for that plugin I know I liked but can’t remember the name of… ;)
Oh no .. now WHY did you do that? I was just getting over my WordPress Plug In addiction … now hopelessly tempted to add more. Amazing (and hard work) but SERIOUSLY appreciated blog post Michelle! Cheers
We might need an “intervention” style program to get past this addiction. So many cool plugins out there! :)
I’d like to add Widget Logic or Widget Logic Visual, and Wordfence to the list.
Oooooh thanks for sharing, Linda, will definitely check those out!
Awesome Article!!!!
Thanks for Sharing….
thank you for the most amazing post ever on blog needs and wants. quick note
: cinch.fm shut down on Oct 20. too bad–was incredibly easy to use.
Thank you SO MUCH! I spent the whole weekend reading this and tweeking my website. I was having so much fun and learned so much. You have opened my eyes to so many possibilities here!! I cannot thank you enough! I will keep hold of this as my site grows, so that I can use some more of your suggestions!
This is an amazing post and so helpful. I found some new plugins that I think will really help me and some of them I already have which makes me feel like I am on the right track. Thank you so much for this post.
Wow Michelle…you really outdid yourself on this post! Thank you for sharing it with us all. I’m definitely bookmarking it for future reference.
You Rock!!!
Can’t wait to sit and read this great post. Thank you so much for putting together all this information!
Thanks for all the info! You definitely have a wide variety of plugins, some I’ve never even heard of, but will definitely try! I’ll have to stop by & finish reading later….so much great info! Thanks again :)
~ Jodene
Great post. Many I’d heard of, some I use, and tons to check out now! Thank you. I’m thrilled to have found your blog.
I love this list! I read it yesterday, and I’ve already started using nrelated, Compfight, and After The Deadline. I also made a list of several more to check out.
I also recommend “duplicate post”, which lets you clone an existing post or page, including all of its fields.
I use it for:
– creating posts or pages from templates
– creating an archived copy of a page for reference
http://lopo.it/duplicate-post-plugin/
Great list. Which is best Premise or OptimizePress if I want to create video landing page (opt-in and sales pages)?
Thank you for putting this list together! I have often had difficulty locating the right plugin for what I need to do and have wasted a lot of time in trial and error. Will be bookmarking to return to later, and sharing of course!
Here’s a couple hints that are important when deciding on plugins for WordPress:
1. Try to use the fewest plugins possible because they can open security issues in WP. For instance, on http://dmiracle.com, I’m currently running only 9 plugins. And while that number will go up with my new design (coming very soon), it won’t increase greatly.
2. Make sure the plugins you use are kept up-to-date. This can be checked on the WordPress plugin directory.
3. Use only the plugins you really need. The plugins you use should serve your business goals not just those that provide fun/fancy features.
4. Use plugins to add the functions your readers/prospects want.
5. Since plugins take up server resources and some bloat your database, be sure to deactivate any plugin you’re not actively using.
6. Keep your plugins updated. Whenever you’re in WordPress and you see there’s an update to a plugin, install it. They’re usually either bug fixes, security hole fixes, add compatibility with the lastest WordPress version or add features. All of those are good things.
I love that you created this information for us, especially for us newbies!
I will have my website up soon, so this comes at the perfect time for me to check out all the plugins to see if I need to add anything. Thank you so much.
This is amasing to me, it is just what I needed, beinf new to web design, thank you so much.
thanks,
Robert
Such a great post!
The one I’d add is Digital Access Pass for membership sites. I’ve tried others, and although DAP has a learning curve, I love it and wouldn’t think of using anything else.
Wow. Comprehensive. Thanks for taking the time to put this together. I will be diving into these to see which will work best for me.
You are always providing value. Love the”recommended next” popup tool in the bottom corner too! Which tool is that?
I love this list. I keep coming back to it and adding more cool things to my site. Thanks Michelle!
For those who want to start a podcast, Powerpress is the way to go. Don’t use Podpress. It’s no longer being developed and supported.