My Top 13 Wordpress Plugins

byLynneHuy

7.4K followers

7 years ago

When I first started using Wordpress I didn't know what a plugin was so I was too scared to use them.

Then I learned that plugins are like mobile apps in that they add functionality to your website so I started adding plugins like crazy....

Then I learned that adding too many plugins to your website is not good and that you must keep your plugins down to the absolute minimum, so I removed most of my plugins and only added plugins when I absolutely had to!

Then I learned that it is not necessarily the amount of plugins that you have, it is more that you need to ensure that the plugins you add are not heavy, slowing down your website, and they need to "play nice together". There are plenty of plugins that are notorious for clashing with others, so avoid those.

After all those ups and downs I feel I am not all over the place when it comes to plugins, I have a much better understanding of them and when to use them.

Here are some plugins that I have really enjoyed:

1. All In One SEO

Yes I know loads of people rave about Yoast but I had Yoast and it didn't play nicely with my other plugins... granted that was at the stage when I had loads of plugins but still I found it problematic for me.

All In One plays nicely, it is not heavy and it is super easy to use.

The fact is that you have to have an SEO plugin and my personal feeling is All In One SEO is the best option here.

How To Use All In One SEO Pack plugin

2. Simple Social Share

Another plugin that you just have to have is a social share plugin - social sharing is vital to your blog, so you need to make it as easy as possible for your visitors to share.

I have Social Media Feather on a few of my websites but I don't really like it much to be honest. I started using Simple Social Share on one of my newer websites and I like it so much more.

3. Really Simple SSL

When I had to get a security certificate for my main business website I was pulling my hair out trying to figure out why I was not getting the green padlock and then I found Really Simple SSL and when I added it my problems were solved - my green padlock was there!

4. EWWW Image Optimizer

It is so important that images are optimized so that your website is not slowed down and EWWW Image Optimizer does a great job.

How To Use EWWW Image Optimizer

5. Redirection

Broken links and pages that are not found will be damaging to your website. Using the Redirection plugin you can redirect traffic from broken links to another link - I have found this super helpful especially since I changed my website from an online store to a blog a few years back. I have added redirects from my store to blog posts on my website.

How To Create Redirects Using Redirection

6. Ninja Forms

There are many forms plugins that you can use, I know a very popular one is Contact Form 7 however I used that one previously and I had some trouble with it. It was not simple enough for me and I find it easier to use Ninja Forms.

7. Shortcoder

Oh how I love this plugin - I don't like dealing with scary looking code all the time and I don't like having to leave my website to go and find my code for example on Google Adsense. I rather add my Google Adsense code to Shortcoder and have a much nicer looking shortcode to use on my website that I can access from my website.

How To Use Shortcoder To Easily Add HTML Banners and Code To Your Posts

8. Pretty Links

Pretty Links is another nifty little plugin that has come in handy over the years. It is a way to make affiliate links prettier as well as having access to my affiliate links on my website, along with tracking information for each link that I add.

How To Use Pretty Links

9. Insert headers and Footers

Once again, I am not a fan of playing with code, especially when it comes to adding code to the header and footer of my website.

Insert Headers and Footers gives me an easy way to add code to my header and footer. In addition to this adding code directly to your headers and footers can sometimes lead to issues when you run updates - your code that you added could be removed. When you use this plugin that issue is resolved!

How To Add Insert Headers and Footers Plugin

10. Post Type Switcher

Tell me you didn't create a page instead of a post when you first started working on Wordpress and you will probably be the first person I have spoken to that hasn't.

In fact I did this myself again a few weeks ago by mistake.

Instead of copying your content and pasting it into the page/ post that you need and then deleting the page/ post you don't need you can make use of this plugin - so super simple and easy to use and much quicker!

How To Change Pages To Posts and Vice Versa - Quick & Easy

11. Classic Editor

This is a plugin I found and added just yesterday - I updated my website to Version 5 (Gutenberg) and found a new editor when I had to finish and publish a post urgently. I had no time to figure out how to use it.

So in comes this plugin which enables you to use the old editor.

Wordpress 5 - Classic Editor Plugin

12. Tablepress

I love this plugin - it enables me to make pretty tables on my website when I need to present information in a table format. It is also super easy to use and makes my content so much more presentable.

How To Create Tables On Wordpress Using Tablepress plugin

13. WP GDPR Compliance

This is such an important plugin that will make sure that your website is GDPR compliant! I don't enjoy legal stuff or complicated technical things and this just takes all the hassle out of it.

How To Easily Make Your Website GDPR Compliant

So these are my top picks of plugins at this stage. What plugins do you use and why?