Must Have Wordpress Plugin To Run Wordpress Blog
In pursuing successful wordpress-powered blog, you are going to need ones of the list of must have wordpress plugins which could perform from a simple work to complex work.
Some are just an overview and review. In fact, you do not need them all. This article goal is not to intimidate, but to help in finding plugins that are carefully crafted by a trusted developer which you need the most.
Must Have Wordpress Plugin
The list of the plugins below are some you might consider before installing new plugin :
1. SEO Plugin
2. Related Post Plugin
3. Caching Plugin
4. Optin Form Plugin
5. Sharing Plugin
6. Contact Form Plugin
7. Analytics plugin
8. Backup Plugin
9. Security Plugin
10. Anti Spam Plugin
1. SEO Plugin
SEO plugin is coded to compliance with search engine rules. Not all wordpress themes has inbuilt seo functionality, hence the need for wordpress seo plugin. By installing it you can change theme easily.
a. All In One SEO Plugin
There are many SEO plugins available. At first, I met a finely all in one SEO plugin that fulfills on-page SEO.
Once it has been installed, set up the custom title and description of homepage, page and article would be easy. Otherwise, the plugin will take care of it.
At the same time, the plugin also supports social media presence. You have to set up the title and description for social media sharing purpose. Then your post will be appropriately presented in social media(Only support twitter and facebook).
Some of the features you might like are sitemap generator, edit robot.txt, optimize for social media such as facebook, twitter, and more. The plugin also offers Pro Version. I used to use the pro version. I think the free version is a good choice.
b. Yoast SEO Plugin
Yoast SEO is a real hit nowadays. Many bloggers migrate to it from All In One SEO Plugin.
Just like All In One SEO Plugin, it works out-of-the-box. It also supports social media optimization which is available when OpenGraph is enabled, so does twitter. Besides, there is premium version.
Premium version of yoast seo will take your blog to the next level. You can focus on more than one keyword, preview social media sharing, redirect page, suite video seo and more.
To use the premium version you have to pay yearly.
In My Opinion
Selecting seo plugin for the blog could be daunting. If these two plugins do not suit you, check out the post titled essential wordpress seo plugins.
I am not going to urge you to use one SEO Plugin. Surely, you have to install and activate one SEO Plugin per site. For me, I like Yoas SEO Plugin. You can do the same or pick up other one.
2. Related Post Plugin
Once you have a lot of blog posts, you can engage visitor to read another post of your blog manually by placing a link to particular words that head over to another interesting related topic.
It could be one of the tricks to keep visitor stay longer on your blog. If your blog is selling something, could result in sales who knows.
Another method that could save your time is by using related post plugin. You can show up related post below the content or inside the blog post.
As I am going to try to be a good person, I include a few related post plugins that work well with a wordpress blog. You must install one of these plugins, not all.
a. Related post by AddThis. This one not only related post plugin but also sharing post plugin. It claims not going to burden your server. No wonder it has 15,000,000.00 users at the moment.
b. Related Amazon product plugin for Amazon affiliate site. If you build an Amazon affiliate site using wordpress, this plugin will help you to find a similar product for your published blog post. Of course, you have to sign up for Amazon affiliate program at first to get the commission.
c. Related posts by taxonomy. You can place related post both after content or at the sidebar as a widget. The relevant post will show up depending on how you set it up. You can set it up as related post based on related tags or related categories.
d. Related post by Maria Shaldybina. It is a minimalist related post that can be placed at the bottom of every blog post as a thumbnail.
e. Yuzo Related Post. It offers inbuilt cache and has 60 option the way how you display the related post.
f. Yet Another Related Posts Plugin (YARPP). If you are a PHP master, this plugin is the one you are looking for. You can customize it.
g. Shareaholic is great for related post button, share button, follow button, etc.
In My Opinion
Using a related plugins for wordpress is an easy way to show a relevant discussion to a current post your audience read. Another way to do the same is by using a Yoast SEO plugin the pro version, but it costs yearly. As long as your hosting allows to use related post plugin and not burden your hosting environment, and also not lower the load time of your site as well, it is ok to use it.
3. Caching Plugin
In the third list, we have caching plugin. It can make a static version of your site. Theoretically, the site will load fast when accessed via a browser as it is static in HTML format that is stored it in RAM or Disk of your server.
The list below you may consider before install any caching plugin :
a. W3 total cache. It has a lot of features. You can not set it up quickly if you do not know what you are doing. Leave the default option is what I can suggest you. If you can afford a CDN, such as KeyCDN, Amazon CloudFront, etc, W3 total cache will work better.
If you can buy the premium version and your hosting provide a Memcached server as well, so W3 total cache is a great choice. The premium version also has a fragment caching option which works amazingly when done right.
One of hosting provider which has fragment caching is studiopress. But it had been shut down.
The plugin works great too when configured with CDN service such as KeyCDN, Amazon CloudFront, etc.
b. Wp-rocket. I never use it. But you can try and feel the difference. When you are not happy, you can ask for a refund. So it is time for you to use the power of premium caching. Many features included in the plugin that promise to speed up any wordpress blog.
c. Wp-super cache. It is a straightforward and powerful caching plugin. It works well with CDN. If you are a beginner, so it is for you.
d. Wp-fastest cache. Another easiest caching plugin to set up that has a Pro version. You can try the free version, then upgrade to Pro version. It is the plugin that has a high performance I have tested.
e. Comet cache. It works well with any CDN such as MaxCDN, CloudFront, KeyCDN, and more. One of the features you will love is, it can cache user login that is useful for membership and e-commerce site or any other sites alike.
f. Cache enabler. Documentation of cache enabler will help the blogger to set up this cache plugin properly. As soon as it is set up, your visitor will be served from static HTML of your site. Keep in mind that Cache enabler is only working well with KeyCDN as the creator.
g. Hyper cache. Install it and leave the configuration by default, then your cache is working well. If you are running a forum using bbPress, it could help you to cache the site.
h. Simple cache. Like its name simple, the default configuration is good enough for you to cache your entire site. Page load time is improving too.
i. Cachify. It is another free caching plugin you would like to love. More than 20,000 active install is one of the proof. Try it and see if you can feel the difference.
In My Opinion
I have done an experiment which leads me to a conclusion that Wp fastest cache is the cache plugin which I think is easy to use and to set up to achieve a pagespeed of your site faster. I have a detail in my post titled wordpress caching plugin.
4. Optin Form Plugin
When your blog start getting traffic, you can lead those traffic to become your friends, your list or your audience. Setup a from is a better way, so that they can turn into your email list.
To do this, you need Optin Form. Below are some of solutions you can consider :
a. Thrive lead. You can make lightbox popup, in-line forms, or any other form in minutes.
b. Bloom. Elegant themes is a company that create beatifull theme called divi along with bloom bundled. You can pay yearly or one time fee. Bloom offers a lot of option to create email form.
c. OptinMonster. It is a premium plugin cost a lot of money. If you are on budget, you should not using it. But if you are no worry about money, I suggest you use OptinMonster as your blog will turn look like a pro.
d. Ninja Pop Up. It has drag-and-drop feature so you can make your first optin form in minutes.
e. Convert Pro. Come with drag-and-drop feature, your form will be ready in minutes. It is beautiful and easy to create a email form. The pricing plan like OptinMonster.
f. Optin-Panda. It has both free and premium version. You can try the free version and upgrade to premium version to make your site to the next level which easy to configure.
g. Wp notification bar. Mythemeshop is the developer behind the wp notification bar. Both free and premium is easy to use. The premium version, off course, has more features that you can unlock. It will look nice on the bar of your site.
h. Wp subscribe pro. It is another product from mythemeshop that can lead your visitor into your subscriber. It has both free and premium version.
i. MailChimp Optin Form. To this date, it has over 1 millon active install. MailChimp also known as email marketing provider. It makes the configuration easy if you consider to use it along with its email service.
5. Sharing Plugins
Many people around the world is addicted to use social media. Facebook, twitter, youtube, pinterest and WhatsApp are the most popular ones these days.
To bloggers, it could be a potential source of traffic. Share and create an ads of the blog post are the common things to do when it comes to driving traffic to the blog.
This is a simple idea. You put up a sharing button on sites, then your reader will press the button to share your engaging content. The button existent not only attract the reader to share the engaging content, but count how many people has shared it on social media as well.
Below are the list of wordpress sharing plugins you can consider :
a. Monarch. It is simple and easy to use. The shiny button will eager the reader to share what the reader has read. You need to spend money to use it on your blog.
b. Social snap. It is a comfort to beginner and small businesses. Easy to setup and work with no worries.
c. Social walfare. It is a premium plugins. You need to buy for single site at minimum. When you need to use it on more than one site, it will cost little more. A lot of amazing features of the plugin that make many bloggers love it such as track shares, UTM tracking code, and more.
d. Social Share & Locker Pro. WooCommerce and BuddyPress are two plugins that is compatible with this plugin. It not only come with visual composer by default and Email Sharing, but a lot of beautiful icons as well.
e. SocialFans. Retina ready and responsive are two of some main features available. You can display buttons of facebook, twitter, pinterest and more.
f. Social Buzz Plugin. This plugin will remain you to a popular website mashable. Full responsive and come with a lot of beautiful style.
g. SumoMe. More social traffic is one of the main purpose of this plugin built. Free version has limited functionality. To unlock its powerful functionality you need to buy monthly or yearly. You will love to use it.
6. Contact Form Plugin
Contact form on your blog would attract an avid reader to send you a happy message. They can ask your help if you have particular skills which in this way you can make money online.
a. WpForms. The drag-and-drop feature will help you to create beautiful contact form with ease. But you need to purchase yearly plan to use it.
b. NinjaForm. You can create a variety of form by using it. Contact form, survey, subscripction, and more that you can imagine. Free option is available, then upgrade anytime to premium.
c. JetPack. Have you done blogging on wordpress.com? If yes, JetPack is plugin available there. Blogging on self-hosted wordpress can go with the use of JetPack to create contact form. Activate the module and you are done.
d. Contact form 7. One of the oldest contact form that is available for free. Easy to use and default option is ready to use.
e. Happyform. Easy to use and no need coding skill to use it. You will be happy to use it as its name.
f. Gravity Form. Powerful paid contact form plugin, it be can used to create site directory, user generated content, and more. The cons things is there is no free version.
g. Formidable Pro. Comes along with add-ons which must be purchased separately, its functionality could be upgraded anytime. The developer keep it simple to use.
7. Analytics Plugin
After a little time, could be 1 year, some strategies could lead a mount of traffic to your blog. As a blogger, paying attenction to the behaviour of the traffic is a must. By installing analytic plugin you can analyse what visitors want and read the most.
a. Google Analytics For WP. If your blog start getting visitors, you can see traffic stats on your panel admin as quickly as you install the plugin. Easy to install, to configure and to use.
b. Google Analytics By MonsterInsInsight. The free version is good. If you need to unlock all its features, you have to pay yearly. It has a simple graphic as the presence of traffic.
c. Analytics Stats Counter Statistics. Can be customized to your need. Visitor can be divided into some fields such as countries, operating system, etc.
d. Simple Feed Stats. Custome css is allowed used in the stats. Stats can be divided by ip addressess, browser, referrers, etc.
e. Wp Power Stats. It can be customized based on stats of time periods and multilanguage ready.
f. Wp Statistic. Lightweight and easy to use. The report can be exported to XML, CSV or TSV format. Plenty of features.
h. Analytify. It not only comes in very handy and gives you insight into your blog, but some add-ons is available too to more breakdown on what moving on your blog as well.
8. Backup Plugin
It is a must to backup your blog. Your hard work could be lost for some reason such as hackers crack your hosting, hosting failure, bad code on theme or plugins and more.
a. UpdraftPlus. It has free and premium version. Setup backup schedule and save them to Dropbox, Google Drive, Rackspace Cloud and more. Upgrade to premium version if you need to unlock the premium functionality.
b. VaultPress. You not only backup your site, but get a daily security scan as well by using this plugin which is included in the JetPack Plugin. To use it, a paid subcription is needed then activate the module. Backup site will be saved at automatic server the company behind the wordpress platform.
c. BackupBuddy. IThemes is the creater of this plugin. By using it, you can backup your site at dropbox, Googledrive, s3 amazon and more. Do you want to download them to your computer? No problem. Login and download your backup site.
d. Duplicator. It is free and has no premium version. You can not store the backup to cloud storage but you can donwnload them to your pc.
e. BackWPup. On budget blogger can use it as a solution to backup the site. The free version is good enough. You can use the premium version and using the most power of it.
f. BlogVault. As soon as you pay monthly or yearly subscription, you can backup your site. Take not much time to setup the plugin which can handle huge site.
9. Security Plugin
If you are running your wordpress blog on managed wordpress hosting such as wpengine, kinsta, and many others, you will not need security plugin. Their security system will always monitor the condition of your blog and fix it up as quickly as possible when there is something wrong with your site.
I have been with wpengine. They will send you a message if there is unsecured code on your themes or plugins, then fix it.
a. Sucuri Security Plugin. It might be the best security guard when it comes to wordpress site. That is why the giant godaddy acquire it. It has free and premium version. DDoS protection, malware scanning, and more are some of the features they offer.
b. Wordfence Security. More than 1 milloin active install for free version. It could not be wrong that it is one of the most trusted wordpress security plugin. You have to purchase yearly plan to unlock the premium version such as ip blocking, login security, and more.
c. iThemes Wordpress Security. It has free and premium version. The free version comes with Brute Forece protection, hide login page, and more. The Premium version offers 30 different options to secure the site.
d. BulletProof Security. It claims can handle more than 100K variety of attacts. It has free and premium version. I think this plugin not for beginner which will find it difficult to setup.
e. MalCare. It claims has better solution in some terms of securing your wordpress site than Sucuri. The others solution are One-Click Malware Clean, Daily Automatic Scan, Deep Malware Scan, and more.
10. Anti Spam Plugin
Spammers are everywhere. Because of this, you need anti spam plugin to handle them correctly.
a. Akismet. It comes along with wordpress platform. Free is good enough for common bloggers. If you decide to use the premium version, make sure your credit card is ready to use.
b. Anti-Spam by CleanTalk. You have 7 days to try it. If you are satisfy the use of it, you can continue its service by purchasing its pricing. Spammy bookings, orders, widgets and subscriptions are promised to be handled in the right way.
c. Simple Security Firewall. It not only blocks comment spam, but tackle against harmful ip addressess as well. Two-factor authorization, stop brute force attacks, and more are some features you will like.
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