What WordPress Plugins First?

WordPress is out of the box a great website tool, however there is a few essential plugins that will dramatically improve your website, here is a  few essential plugins (which I will update, so keep checking back or subscribe) that you would use on just about any WP niche website.

I also have a few WP enhancing plugins that will be looked at in another post, however to get you started here are the basics, oh and did I mention that all of them are free, yes I just did.

1. Akismet

What better plugin to start with than the only (useful) one that comes installed with WordPress as standard? Akismet is the most popular spam prevention/management solution available for WordPress.

Whilst it is pretty reliable, you will want to keep an eye on the items it marks as spam. Genuine comments do occasionally get caught up amongst the spam.

2. Growmap Anti Spambot Plugin

This plugin is definitely worth a mention. Growmap inserts a checkbox that a genuine person (and therefore not a spambot) must check before their comment is submitted. It is a simple but elegant way to stop spam comments. Some find Akismet to be less effective than others, so this plugin works great as a second line of defense. If only it worked for trackbacks and pingbacks too…

3. W3 Total Cache

Installing a caching plugin should be right at the top of your list of priorities.

Here’s the problem – WordPress generates pages dynamically. Whenever a visitors tries to view a page on your site, WordPress makes all sorts of background requests in order to render the page.W3 Total Cache speeds up load times dramatically by pre-fetching all relevant content and storing it, ready to be sent as a static page when it is requested.

4. Contact Form 7

WordPress sites almost always need a contact form. And whilst there are many options available,Contact Form 7 suits most developers’ needs, is highly intuitive, and (of course) totally free.

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5. WordPress SEO

Whilst WordPress comes fairly well-equipped for onsite SEO as standard, there is definitely room for improvement. And just like contact forms, there are more SEO plugins available for WordPress than you can shake a stick at. However, there is less debate as to which is the best.

Most WordPress developers agree that WordPress SEO sets the gold standard. Its offers you a means by which you can manage all the relevant onsite SEO factors you could wish to.

6. SexyBookmarks

Social media has firmly established itself as an extremely powerful medium for communication in the modern age. And that’s not all – it is also an extremely powerful tool for marketing. If you are serious about website branding, you should have tight integration between your WordPress site and social media platforms.

And SexyBookmarks is a great place to get started. It allows you to place social media sharing buttons on your WordPress site’s pages. It is highly customizable, and offers a little bit of flair (should you want it to) to entice your readers into sharing.

7. Google XML Sitemaps

You really should have a XML sitemap. If you’d never been before, how well do you think you would fare getting around New York’s subway system without a map? Although the metaphor isn’t directly transferable, the principle is the same. Do Google’s search bots a favor – install and activate Google XML Sitemaps. It will create a fully formed XML sitemap for you.

8. WPtouch

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the last couple of years, you will be well aware that more and more people are accessing the internet via mobile devices. And as such, it is vital that your WordPress site is viewable on multiple platforms.

But what if you don’t have the time and/or resources to create a WordPress site that will react reliably to multiple mobile platforms? Simple – use WPtouch instead. It will strip your site down to a basic “application-like” user interface, whilst giving users the option to revert to your primary design.

9. BackUpWordPress

If you’re not backing up your WordPress site on a regular basis, you really are running the gauntlet. Don’t leave the future existence of your site to chance. If you are not willing to spend money on a quality premium plugin, there are free options available, the best of which is BackUpWordPress.

Yes, its features are somewhat limited, but what it does, it does well. If you are not currently backing up your WordPress site(s), take action now.

10. Pretty Link Lite

Link tracking is an invaluable tool for any WordPress developer. You probably already have an account with one of the numerous link-tracking services, such as bit.ly or tinyurl.com.

But Pretty Link Lite is a better solution. It allows you to shorten links using your own domain name, and gives you all of the tracking capabilities you use with your current link-tracking service.

11. Broken Link Checker

Broken links are a bane of website developers, and finding them can be a real pain. Fortunately,Broken Link Checker makes checking for broken links a piece of cake.

Just install and activate the plugin, and let it do the rest of the work. If it finds a broken link, you can set it to inform you either via your WordPress dashboard, or by email.

NEXT – Coming Soon: Features That Should Come Standard In WordPress

QUESTION: How many of the above plugins are you using?