Do You Really Need That WordPress Plugin? Maybe You Dont
I`m sure you`ve read somewhere "must-have plugin for WordPress" The best page builder,the best image optimizer, and who knows what.
But before you rush to upload, please ask yourself,
- Do you really need that plugin?
- In case things go wrong, what can you do?
- Will it really improve things?
- What`s really in it for you now that was not there before you found it?
- Can you do without it?
If the answer is all yes
Before you do anything else, please backup your site.
I did something that I USED TO DO WHEN I GOT STARTED and it`s cost me dearly. And I`m angry at myself because it`s not even the first time.
You older guys might remember easy Azon(I'm sure it`s still out there, just not as popular), back then when it was the must-have, I installed it, and what happened? my site disappeared I could not even go to my admin area, the space was blank(plugin clash) that was a headache as it took me maybe a week to figure out it was the plugin.
Fast forward, I got AAWP and at the same time decided to move to Elementor.I do most of my online stuff late at night(when I wake up on time)So I installed Elementor, installed AAWP, and some other plugins with only half my brain active. Sure these can`t be a problem, they are paid plugins. So for whatever reason, I did not even backup my sites but Installed all 3 plugins on my 3 sites.
What A Serious Mistake
When my site started having issues, I thought, it might be just a tiny problem I can solve soon enough. My work online is very slow recently, sometimes weeks go by before I do anything on my site.
By the time I accepted the problem is beyond my know-how, it was way too late: Months had gone by so even WA support could not help, they did not have a recent backup for my sites.
I`m left with 3 messed-up websites, rankings are gone, a 1000+ word will appear as a 1 paragraph word, Htags, bold text everything is a single paragraph. Google Console not ranking any post. Even old posts that were permanently on page one for over 3 years are now found on page 10!!! No one finds you on page 3 of Google but I`m mostly on page 10.
Very lucky for me, I found someone here at WA who can help me straighten things, I was not comfortable inviting some freelance from who knows where to my site because my sites are also hosted here. It`s not as simple as removing the plugin and everything works perfectly again, the plugins seriously messed up my site and loads have to be done.
This is a slow painful process trying to bring things back to normal, it will take me time.
Please Think Before Installing the Next Plugin, Don`t Be Me
I know/hope I`m not the only one who`s done something so foolish, please next time you want that must-have plugin, be prepared as things may go terribly wrong. Ask yourself if you really need that plugin.
Things were so bad I thought of starting a new site altogether and abandoning the problematic ones.The only positive to come out of all these? It made me find someone here who`s brilliant at what he does, so next time I mess things up, I don`t have to wait months, I know who to contact. And, I`m getting a better site like I always wanted.
Recent Comments
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I don't really understand plugins, so I just have the very basic ones that Kyle had in his training
And i may say,maybe you should also consider yourself doing the right thing, they ruined my 4+ years of work.
Hey Roamy,
Sorry to hear that you've had such an experience with Plugins. However, this is a great reminder to others that using any of the THEME controlled content creators in WordPress can really harm your site. Time and time again we've seen folks with awesome ranking websites, only to see them fall due to relying on theme controlled content management plugins. Thrive is one to mention here as well.
The problem lies when you go to uninstall them or move to a new theme, your content will not be formatted correctly. There are many out there with 100's or even 1000's of posts where they cannot remove themselves from a theme like Thrive do to their content being destroyed when they move to a new theme.
In your case the installation of the theme caused formatting issues with your content, but it also goes the other way as mentioned above.
These paid themes can stop working, get abandoned, and very commonly cause issues with Google Rankings as they are poorly programmed and slow.
Plugins to not make you rank better
Plugins do not make you get more traffic
Plugins will not make you more revenue
There are many great plugins out there that will help extend the functionality of your WordPress website, but install them with caution and try to keep them to a minimum.
and that`s exactly what happened to me, and as you mentioned, my problems started when I started using thrive, then I moved to a free theme but the problems were still there, then when I installed Elementor and the other plugins, it was a free fall.
Plugins can mess things up so bad that it`s even hard to explain unless someone has experienced it.
I'm very sorry to learn of your major misfortunes caused by plugins.
There is a multitude of plugins available and although WA warns members about not overusing them, many lean towards that 'must-have' as it's sure to improve our sites!
I'm so pleased there is someone within WA who has helped you.
Thanks for the warning.
Wishing you all the best :)
Valerie
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Hi Roamy
That’s a very useful message. Thank you.
I take daily backups and still was caught out because I thought 4 days worth would be enough! It wasn’t when a plugin problem took several days to emerge then several days to analyse. I now keep 10 copies.
:-)
Richard
Good for you, I think this can`t be stressed enough about plugins, the damage they can cause is enorm.A 3 year old site, another 4 years old has now been reduced to nothing(ranking wise)