WordPress is one of the most popular website and blogging platforms. This article explains why I prefer WordPress. One of the reasons is the availability of thousands of free and premium WordPress plugins.
What is a Plugin?
Plugins are add-ons to the WordPress (WP) operating system that add functionalities to a website or blog. Think of them as tools to do a lot of time-saving tasks as well as adding security and usability.
In this post, I’m going to cover the basic ones that every site should have. Obviously, depending on the purpose of your website, the plugins that you need will vary. Most of these plugins are free with added features for an additional cost.
Security and Peace of Mind WordPress Plugins
Hackers are having a blast with more people getting online and using technology. The problem is that whenever the good guys build a bigger wall of protection, the hackers just build a bigger cannon. You constantly have to keep up with the latest security measures. Fortunately, there are plugins available to help you do that.
Wordfence
Back in 2014, my website got hacked twice. Lesson learned: protect your site. Hackers will hack because they can or to get money through ransomware. Wordfence installs a firewall of protection and monitors your site. You’ll get an email if there is an issue. It will also regularly scan for suspicious malware.
WPBruiser
Have you ever gotten spam emails from the contact form on your website? Annoying, right? Well, WPBruiser will block them. I also had to add a captcha on my site to prevent spammer robots. The free version blocks some, but not all. They offer upgrade “extensions” to work with whatever contact form plugin you use.
Titan Anti-Spam & Security and Akismet
WP comes with Akismet installed, but not activated. This plugin blocks spam comments. A problem with comments is that people can add their website address so it helps drive traffic to their sites. However, they are usually all spammers and you don’t want them. They’ll disguise their comments with “Nice post!” or some complement like that. Akismet is free for non-profits only. Otherwise, you have to pay to use it. If you’re a for-profit business, delete it. The plugin you want is Titan Anti-spam & Security. This one will block unwanted spam comments.
Tip: You should allow comments, even encourage them by asking a question at the end of your blog posts. But make sure in Settings / Discussion that you select to monitor all comments before they go live on your site. This is something you have to manually do once a week or so.
Updraft Plus
Nothing is more frustrating than losing all of your content. Updraft Plus is an automated back-up system for your website. You can set it to back it up once a day or once a week. Store the back-up off-site in Dropbox so it’s on an external server rather your own website’s server. If your website goes down or gets wiped out by a hacker, you’ll still have the backup on another server.
SEO and Social Media Sharing
I put these WordPress plugins categories together because they work together. Social media helps with SEO, but it could be very time consuming. That’s where these plugins come in.
SEO by Yoast
This is by far the best SEO (search engine optimization) plugin. After the initial setup, which connects the account with Google Analytics, it adds, at the bottom of every page and post, a section with guidelines to help you optimize each page and post so that search engines will pick it up. It grades each page or post. You want each one to be green. However, don’t break your brain if it’s yellow and it doesn’t make sense to do what it suggests. Remember, you’re writing for the human reader with the search engine in mine.
Google Site Kit
This is for both analytics and SEO. This invaluable tool tells you how many visitors came to your site and from where. This is important so that you know which of your marketing efforts are working or not working. The Search Console tells you the keyword phrases that led people to your site as well as how many times you came up in Google search results. It also gives you how fast your website loads on both desktop and mobile. You need to check your analytics at the end of each month to see where your visitors are coming from, what keywords are leading them to your website, how many are new vs return visitors, how many pages they viewed, and much more!
Revive Old Posts
Sharing your blog posts on social media helps drive traffic to your website as well as helps with SEO. Revive Old Posts is a WordPress plugin that will share old posts randomly. You choose the frequency. Don’t turn this on until you have at least 20-30 posts published. You don’t want it sharing the same thing over and over again. Watch, also, for time-sensitive posts. You don’t want a New Year’s post going out in July! Connect your networks, set it, then forget it! You can connect Twitter and a Facebook biz page for free, and upgrade to add LinkedIn.
To share NEW posts, I recommend a 3rd-party tool, Dlvr.it. For an affordable annual fee, you can set up RSS Feeds to post from related, trusted sources, as well as your blog. The fee is SO worth it as it’s a set it and forget it tool.
Broken Link Checker
If you have links to external websites in your blogs, you’re going to want this one. Sometimes it happens that a link you put in your blog citing a source no longer works. That hurts your SEO. Google follows links. You need both internal and external links to boost SEO. But what if that webpage you linked to, because of the cool infographic you shared, is no longer? That’s where this WordPress plugin comes in. It checks your site for broken links, then sends you and email when it finds them. At that point, you need to check it and remove the link or see if there’s another one that works. It will also check internal links of pages and posts you may have trashed.
There are a slew more! If you’re not sure what you need or need help, let’s start with a FREE 15-minute Zoom Call. Click here to book.
WordPress Plugin Updates
Just like any other operating system, there are always updates. They could be bug fixes or security updates. It’s important that you keep your website updated. As soon as there is a WP update, all the plugins have to be updated. They’ll tell you when there’s an update.
If you fail to update them, they may not work properly and they can also leave an opening for hackers. There’s also the possibility that one plugin might have a problem with another plugin and you really don’t have a clue which one. Yes, technology doesn’t always work like it’s supposed to.
If you feel uncomfortable dealing with all this technology yourself, then I recommend OnSiteWP. They’ll maintain your site for you for a reasonable monthly fee. Call it peace-of-mind.
Related Articles:
- What Could Go Wrong When You Build Your Own Website
- A Successful Company has a Website that is Useful
- Blogging 3x a week increases website traffic – here’s proof
Get it on Amazon Kindle!
