If you ever found yourself asking “What are the best WordPress plugins?”, then this blog post is for you!
A plug in for your WordPress blog is a little tweak to make your blog perform better (in some cases) or do something an ordinary blog can’t do. As an entrepreneur, you’ll have different needs for plug ins than someone blogging for pure entertainment reasons.
Before we talk about which plug ins you should consider, you should be aware that plug ins have the ability to mess up your blog, too. One that’s not maintained well can have bugs that wreak havoc on your blog.
Luckily, all you have to do is delete or make the plug in inactive, but you first have to know which one is causing the problems. Make sure you stay on top of your blog’s performance so that you’re aware whenever a problem arises.
I’m not going to spend your time trying to tell you all the plugins there are out there. That is because there are a bunch! I’d assume that there are millions of different plugins that can help you will different things.
So what I’m going to do is to break down the plugins that I personally use here on cjhallock.com and on other websites that I build.
These WordPress Plugins are not in any order … Just Alphabetical :)
Akismet Anti-Spam – (by Automattic) This one is simple. It blocks a lot of the spam comments that come through your WordPress website. You will need an account with Akismet in order to activate and run the plugin successfully. Don’t worry, you can get a FREE account.
Blubrry PowerPress – This is the plugin that I currently use in order to display my podcast on my website. It gives you an RSS feed so that you can submit your podcast to the Google Play Store as well as iTunes. (Disclaimer: Do not host your files on your own server. You will want to host your podcast files with a podcast hosting company. I’m working on a tutorial to help you understand how to start a podcast on the Start Here page.
Coming Soon Page & Maintenance Mode by SeedProd – This is an awesome plugin that gives you the capability to create a stunning coming soon page that you can put up in a few minutes.
Easy Theme and Plugin Upgrades -(by Chris Jean) This was an answered prayer. When you are using “Premium WordPress Themes”, they don’t always release updates that you can install from within your WordPress Dashboard. So this plugin allows you to update the plugin and/or theme without losing any information.
Fonts – (by Brad Dalton) This plugin works great with the Salient Theme that I use here on cjhallock.com. It opens up the opportunity to use all the Google Fonts inside of your “Page Builder”.
Jetpack by WordPress.com – This plugin is a default plugin that comes installed with most auto-install files of WordPress. It adds a lot of features but for beginners, the main thing you will want to “Turn On” is the “Site Stats”. This allows you to track the traffic that is coming to your website. Yes, Google Analytics is the best way to track your traffic but this is a way to get a good understanding of your traffic when you log in to start working.
LP Estimated Reading Time – (by Layerpoint) This simply just adds the estimated reading time to your blog posts. It will let the reader know about how long it will take to read the post. Just something for the readers.
Pretty Link – (by Blair Williams) This is a URL shortening tool for WordPress. For example, if you are wanting to link out to your awesome new book on Amazon, instead of posting the full link (https://www.amazon.com/InstaGuide-Instagram-guide-Covering-tactics/dp/1548967122/ref=pd_rhf_se_p_img_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=4BETRZ7D1QAQSXSDZC7F) you can shorten it (https://cjhallock.com/igbook) then when they go to that link it will redirect it to that long & ugly link.
Salient Visual Composer – This is the plugin that comes with Salient in order to build out your pages & website
W3 Total Cache – This plugin “Caches” or saves a quicker to load a version of your website in order to speed up the loading time.
WooCommerce – This plugin is what gives you an eCommerce platform within your WordPress website. It is not the only option. Feel free to look around and find one that works for you but I will tell you I wouldn’t recommend it. Just use WooCommerce!
WP Clone by WP Academy – This plugin is the easiest and most automated way to move a WordPress website. (Disclaimer – It is not guaranteed but it works 99% of the time for me. Also, if you are using GoDaddy, HostYak or other “Managed WordPress” hosting platforms you will not be able to use this. So please consider using a hosting company like InMotion or something similar.
Yoast SEO – This is one of the few plugins that I use on EVERY website that I build. This plugin will help Google and the other search engines find your website. It also will help you make sure that you do what you need to in order to be sure your site and/or page is optimized for the search engines.
FYI, this will be an evolving blog post so as I find new plugins that I would recommend I’ll add them. So if you don’t see a plugin that you think should be added to this list, please comment below!
If you missed the WordPress Themes post … Check it out here!
