Top 10 Essential Plugins For Beginners On WordPress
If you have already bought your domain name with Bluehost or another hosting provider? If WordPress powers your website, and you are now wondering what to do next here are some essential plugins that you can install for a better experience with your website.
Firstly congratulations on your new website and welcome to the online world!
Secondly, you might be wondering what all the plugin fuss is about, well put simply plugins are for people who want to optimize their website without programming and coding. Some simple features on a site like a sharing icon to your social media page may require a plugin, and with over 50,000 plugins on WordPress, it is sometimes hard to sift through all the plugins for the best ones. I am going to name some essential free plugins. Yes, they mostly have a “pro” version, but you will be just fine with the free versions.
This website has affiliate links that I earn a commission from without any extra cost to you. This means that if you click on a link and purchase something, I might make a little money. You will not be charged extra, and some of the affiliate links I use have discounts so stay tuned!
1 Jetpack
When you first install WordPress Jetpack is already one of your preinstalled plugins, it has many features and is one plugin with multiple functions. Some include site health, security, statistics (on how many visitors and how well your posts are doing) and my personal favourite is the possibility of adding a sharing button for social media to your posts. So yeah this is a must-have number 1 worthy plugin for WordPress.
Another necessary feature of Jetpack is it keeps your site spam free. So think of it as your websites anti-virus.
2 Child Theme Plugin
If you choose to build your website with a WordPress theme instead of making your website with WordPress page builder, then a child theme is a base necessity. Most themes are updated regularly and some every month. The theme developers are always adding minor and sometimes significant adjustments to their theme for better functionality.
All this may seem fantastic until you realize that every time you update them all prior adjustments you made to your theme will be lost. Unless you have nerves made of titanium, this will be problematic.
A child theme will allow you to make any enhancements and adjustments all the while updating your theme when ever the need arises.
One thing to remember when activating a child theme, always check the box that asks you about importing all your theme adjustments before making your child theme. By doing this, your transition from a parent theme to a child theme will be smooth sailing.
Here is my recommendation for a great plugin I currently use Child Theme Configurator.
3 Backup Plugins
It is every webmaster’s nightmare that their website should break and they will have to remake and rebuild from scratch. For this unspeakable nightmare, there is a plugin too.
You can install UpdraftPlus WordPress Backup Plugin for a safer experience with your website.
4 Rank Math
When you first start a website whether it is a blog post site or any other type of website; optimized ranking on search engines is key to your success. For this, the best plugin is Rank Math. You will get suggestions on how to optimize your text, readability analysis, SEO, and keyphrase usage. All this and much, much more.
SEO is short for search engine optimization. The more you delve into the world of website building this is a phrase which you will come across more and more. It is essential to fully acquaint yourself with all kinds of SEO for optimal results online. Although it is misleading to think that using a plugin to guide you for writing will help you rank better with Google. It is only good for when you are new at how to format your posts properly.
Do not fall for the Yoast hype guys, you will be fine without Yoast!
5 W3 Total Cache
Another great free plugin for SEO is W3 Total Cache. It makes your pages load faster and caches your data affectively.
If your pages have an efficiency in loading this will make your pages rank higher on search engines. So yeah another must have.
6 Smush
When you open any website post or page online, if the photographs are too big in scale, this slows the sites loading time. As you may have gathered this is not good for SEO, so that is why there is a wonderful plugin called Smush.
If you have not guessed already, with this plugin all your pictures will be be scaled automatically for optimal loading time of your pages.
I am going to make a step-by-step post on how to crop and scale pictures on WordPress, it’s easy. So stay tuned!
7 Google Analytics Dashboard for WP by ExactMetrics
Here is a plugin for analytics. If you do not want to scroll through all of the data provided Google Analitycs then let ExactMetrics do all the sorting for you.
You may not see the need for this at the outset of your blogging expeditions but as you grow this will become a life saver.
With this plugin you will be notified about page views, 404 error pages, sessions, organic searches and so much more. The best part, it’s free!
8 ThirstyAffiliates Affiliate Link Manager
For all newbies, the big question is how can your website be monetized?
Well if you are not going for Woocomerce then affiliate marketing is your easiest and most lucrative avenue. Adding affiliate links is really simple and with ThirstyAffiliates things just got easier.
You will be able to shorten links. ThirstyAffiliates will automatically link keywords to affiliate links. It will help you stay compliant by automatically disclosing your affiliates. Also, it will import Amazon affiliate links.
9 Akismet
When you first start a website, you will get all sorts of spam. Not only will people send you useless suggestions on spending money, on apps you do not need! They can steal your traffic and will make your site look unprofessional.
For this, there is a lovely plugin called Akismet. You can review all your spammed comments in case there are any mix-ups but keeping your site spam free is critical.
10 Starter Templates – Elementor, Beaver Builder, Gutenberg & Brizy Templates
For making a website page there are many functionalities that you will have to add or remove. You will need a page builder plugin for all that magic.
It is a mouth-full, but Astra is the page builder I use currently. It is excellent and wonderfully free! Most bloggers recommend Elementor as a plugin for WordPress because I use the Astra theme this page builder works best for me.
Elementor is great but there are too many features that are only accessible with Elementor pro.
In conclusion
These are all tried and tested plugins by webmasters all over the internet of things. I do suggest that you play around and find what is best for you. With over 50,000 free plugins on WordPress there is much to sift through, still these are beginner plugins that you must have or consider. The more you interact with your website, and you will inevitably face all sorts of trouble, your knowledge will grow.
Have fun building your website!