A plugin is an application that is used to add features to your WordPress website. These features can add value to your visitors or they can help you to manage your site better. There are so many to choose from it is difficult to know what to do and not to do. I have some experience with all the plugins that I have listed here and hope you will find these helpful suggestions. Plugins can extend WordPress to do almost anything you can imagine. Create Polls, Slideshows, Contact Forms -you name it.
A word of warning about Plugins:
1) The second most common way for WordPress sites to get hacked is via plugins. (The most common is by keeping Username and Password on default settings in case you wonder)
2) Most plugins are developed by individuals like you and me in their spare time. If they work with your current version of WordPress that does not mean they will work with the next WordPress version. Becasue the plugin creator may have lost interest or does not have the time or resources to upgrade the plugin
3) Many plugins use very common javascript libraries. The plugin may work by itself but adding a second one may cause a resource conflict – which may result in both of them failing to perform
4) Even though the plugins are listed on the WordPress website does not mean they have been tested or approved. Anyone can upload to their plugin for free and without approval.
5) Usually plugins that cost money are a safer bet – because those are associated with a company or individual committed to make money and their reputation will be ruined if they don’t support their product. …By the way all of the above is also true for free vs commercial WordPress themes…
6) Pro Tip for those paranoid about security: rather than permanently using a plugin you can look at the plugin code and copy/paste only the code you really need directly into your theme php files. After that is done delete the plugin.
Google XML Sitemap generates an XML map that is used by Google, Yahoo, Bing and Ask.com to better index your blog. What this means is that your pages will be easier for these search sites to find and return when people search for things you have on your website. I think that any help we can give Google to allow people to find us is worth it.
WordPress Database Backup. This does exactly what it says. You can manually backup your database or set it on a schedule to backup on a regular basis, such as once a week. In the world today you can never have enough data backed up. I lost my database about year ago and it has taken me months to recover. I hadn’t done a backup in over 6 months. Don’t follow my example. Install this plugin and set the database to backup at least once a week. One thing you need to remember. This does not backup you included media such as pictures, video or sound files. It also does not include your themes. This is only a database backup. This includes your content in the form of posts and pages.
Yet Another Related Posts Plugin is a plugin that automatically adds related posts links that are found in your website to the bottom of your posts. This works to cross-reference your site for your visitors. The nice thing about this plugin is that you don’t have to remember all the posts on yrou site that might add value to the current post. The plugin finds them for you.
Jetpack by WordPress is a suite of plugins that include statistics on your website and a spelling grammar checker. The spelling/grammar checker is worth its weight in gold. It offers corrections for both spelling and grammar errors. You have the ability to configure what the grammar checker looks for. This helps your writing style and provides more professional posts for your visitors.
All In One SEO Pack is a plugin that helps you to create your site better so that search engines can find things on your site better. SEO stands for search engine optimization. By defing how search engines should look for information on your site you can make sure that the results that a person sees when they search for something on your website will look the way you want. This helps people to find you and the things they are looking for.
WP Super Cache is used to speed up the WordPress site. This means your visitors will be able to get to your site faster and the pages will also load faster.
Akismet is an antispam plugin. This has got to be the one plugin that everyone uses. It prevents spam from making it to your comments. If you only use one plugin this should be the one.
