Must Have WordPress Plugins:
What are the must have wordpress plugins? WordPress blogs are in abundance among the internet, it is by far the most flexible form of content management. Whether you blog for business or for personal use these plugins will help you along the way. All of these plugins are free and the free version is great, some may offer a pro version. Many of these plugins aren’t required to get started, but chances are you will want these.
SEO Plugins:
- Yoast Seo – I think this is by far the best SEO Plugin at the moment. It offers you the ability to have focus keywords, analyze your posts, and check the readability. You can edit meta tags, and descriptions. Yoast also has a built in Google XML Sitemap generator.
- All in One SEO Pack – Another great option. Very similar to Yoast SEO, it gets the job done and is customizable to help index your site.
Backup Plugin:
- Backup WordPress – Backs up entire site contents and database. You can set a backup schedule if you would like. Many options to save your backup too, you can email, use ftp, Dropbox and many others. We recommend using a remote server for your backups, or if you do use your hosting make sure to download it to a separate drive.
- BackWPUp – Similar to Backup WordPress offers all the same features.
Spam Plugin:
- Akismet – Does exactly what it was designed to do, it detects spam. All you need to do is download and activate and this plugin automatically starts working on getting rid of any spam comments.
- Anti-Spam – No settings, no non sense. Install and activate and anti-spam gets right to work.
Google Analytics:
- Google Analytics – Google Analytics is a statistic tracking tool. Allows you to add it to your blog and view all the information from your dashboard. You can see page views, clicks, bounce rate etc.
Security:
- iThemes Security – This security plugin helps to secure your blog in multiple ways. It will also send logs to your email address if anything is detected. A pro version is available with more options.
Optimize:
- Wp-Optimize – A simple yet effective plugin. It will clean up your database of old drafts and files in order to keep everything running quick and smooth.
Social Media:
- Social Media and Share icons – A very customizable social media sharing plugin. Multiple different styles of share icons. You can make your icons stick or float on the page, or even add a popup.
Related Posts:
- Yet Another Related Posts Plugin – This is a great plugin in order to keep readers on your blog longer. Near the bottom of the post will show more related posts by you that may grab someone’s attention. Very simple to use.
Contact Form:
- WP Forms Lite – A form builder with a simple to use concept, just drag and drop. Creates forms that you can add on your blog using the widget section.