The world of CMS has only one king – WordPress. Even the king needs his hands to rule over his domain of 2 million websites, and in this case, the king’s hands are the plugins. Each year WordPress comes up with thousands of new plugins for the users, developers, digital marketers, online entrepreneurs and website designers. Since most plugins in the directory are free, it is quite easy to update their versions from time to time and even switch to a new plugin now and then. However, most developers and marketers remain too busy to pay attention to a perfectly functioning site and its plugins as long as they are active. They deem it extra work but updating certain plugins and replacing a few are very necessary to ensure better safety and compatibility of these websites.
At this point in time, about 40,000 WordPress plugins have come into existence thanks to the endless efforts of the third-party developers and WordPress. We are not saying you need to check out all of them or that even all of them are legit.
A few of the plugins you need if you are a seller or digital marketers –
- Plugins that help with selling like cart managers, inventory updates, payment gateway managers, security and backup, and customer database management plugins.
- For heavy content sites some plugins track content publishing, schedule content posts, manage meta tags and on-page SEO and protect on-page content.
- General plugins for all kinds of websites include backlink managers, link monitoring and updating plugins, SEO plu-ins for all kinds of content, sitemap generator plugins, and plugins that help with backend management of access, database, and security.
Due to the different levels of accuracy and the nuanced nature of each action, there are hundreds of plugins in each category that provide the WordPress users a unique combination of benefits.
The plugins your WordPress site is crying for right now
Today, we will give you some of the best and most popular plug-ins from each category, which developers from all around the world swear by.
Jetpack – Site security and SEO
Jetpack can generate traffic, help in website optimization, create backups, help in data recovery and provide up to date security for your website database.
- This free plugin is ideal for beginners and WP veterans.
- It has an intuitive user interface.
- Jetpack eliminates the need to download, install and use separate plug-ins for each function.
MailChimp for WordPress – email list building, email marketing
MailChimp is a popular name in the world of email marketing.
- It helps in creating email list and management of the same.
- Offers user-friendly, responsive email forms for each user.
- The forms have multiple theme and color options to sync them with your website theme.
- It is compatible with multiple other WordPress plug-ins including the WordPress comment form.
Akismet – one-stop anti-spam solution
Akismet is a name that has always lead the category of spam-management plugins for WordPress.
- It can automatically filter all spam comments from your posts.
- You can check which comments Akismet cleared automatically and which were marked as spam by a moderator.
Popup Maker – Popup Forms, Optins & More – for list building and digital marketing
Popup Maker is a 5-star rated customer database cum list building a plug-in that is new, lightweight and crisp.
- You can set signup form pop-ups to appear after at particular use timelines, design cookie notices, create slide-ins and update modal forms.
- Design the color, theme, and layout of the signup form in the pop-up to match your theme.
- Using Popup Maker, you can keep the entire signup or subscription process optional for the flybys.
Advanced Custom Fields – add custom fields anywhere
The Advanced Custom Fields plugin enables the user to seize control of their edit screens and a custom data field.
- Using the Advanced Custom Fields, you can add fields as per demand.
- You can add fields anywhere including posts, media, taxonomy terms, comments, and users.
- You can show or hide these new custom field values using Advanced Custom Fields’ easy developer options.
Smush Image Compression and Optimization – optimize your images for search engines
The Smush plugin has been a favorite of developers, designers, and bloggers for quite a few months. It allows users to resize, compress and optimize all kinds of images. It’s also the winner of Torque’s 2017 Plugin Madness Competition.
- Using Smush, you can compress images in all directories.
- You can optimize your NextGEN images; Amazon S3 stored images and the images belonging to WP themes.
- Smush scans every image you upload and removes all unnecessary data to scale and optimize the image for SEO.
iThemes Security (formerly Better WP Security) – WP security plugin
iThemes Security is a wonderful and wholesome plugin that provides the users with 30+ ways to secure your site and database.
- iThemes Security Pro offers two-factor authentication with the help of Google Authenticator plugin.
- Schedule scans for malware and viruses.
- It will help you stay on top of your password schedules, expirations, security levels and updates.
- iThemes Security will allow you to compare files online, track user activities and manage temporary privilege escalation.
- iThemes Security also provides heightened security against brute force attacks on all networks.
These few plugins will help your website stay up-to-date on 2018. While some of these will help you keep your webpages optimized for all leading search engines, others will keep your customer/user data safe without burning a hole in your pocket.
Barrack Diego
Barrack Diego is a freelance content writer. He has written many good and informative articles on different categories such as Web Design, SEO, and Business. He has already worked with web developers New York team. He is very responsible towards his job. He loves to share his knowledge and experience with his friends and colleagues.
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