In terms of managing content, WordPress has long been hailed as the supreme ruler of website design, and this is thanks in part to the little bits of software known as plugins, of which WordPress has more than 50,000 of.
Enabling you to expand and improve upon a website’s functionality, plugins are an important feature, but with so many thousands to choose from, how do you know which ones are essential, and which ones are merely desirable?
Here are 8 of the best plugins along with their benefits:
- SEO
Allowing you to optimize pieces of content for SEO, while also empowering you to configure SEO settings throughout the site, these plugins help you to generate and submit XML sitemaps.
2. Forms
Connecting with an audience is one of the main reasons for creating a website, and forms can help you do exactly that. But, if you want to add forms to your WordPress website, you’ll need to select an appropriate plugin; your web designer will help you with this.
3. External sitebackups
External site backups must be scheduled at frequent intervals on any WordPress website, but they shouldn’t be carried out by the hosting provider. Fortunately, WordPress has an array of backup options that are both free and paid.
4. Page speed optimization
We all know just how important speed is to a website; without it, you could be jeopardising the user experience, SEO, and web accessibility. With a WordPress plugin to optimize the speed and performance of your site, however, you can help Google rank you higher in the SERPs, and give visitors to your site a more enjoyable experience.
5. Anti-spam
Spam is more than just an annoying thing you need to clean up, it can actually be risky for your website’s users, exposing them to scams and phishing that can harm your brands reputation and your website’s trustworthiness. By installing a simple and effective anti-spam plugin, you can do your bit to stop malicious content from ever finding its way onto your website.
6. Tracking analytics
To help you track how effective your digital marketing efforts are, you must use Google Analytics,, and this should really be one of the first things implemented on a new site as soon as it’s launched.
7. Lead generation
If you want to capture leads from any paid advertizing you’ve been involved in, or try and build up your email list, a lead generation plugin could be of assistance. While perhaps not an essential plugin, and certainly one that won’t necessarily enhance the functionality of a WordPress site, they can still be very useful.
8. WordPress customization
This type of plugin helps to give you an enhanced level of control over the way in which you present content on your site, meaning that even if you’re not a professional web developer, you may still be able to quickly and easily put together a customized development solution for content presentation.
To know more about the many thousands of plugins available through WordPress, and to find out which ones your site really shouldn’t be without,talk to a web development company, either locally or remotely (the results will typically be the same).