Plugins for Wordpress Websites

42 replies
  • WEB DESIGN
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Hi,
I have several wordpress sites my partner and i are building, adding new content each day. I have several good plugins, on the sites but feel i could add other plugins, that would make my sites better.
Do you have any recommendations on a certain plugin, that you have for your site - i know i can go to wordpress itself, just would be good to get imput from web owners.
thanks
#plugins #websites #wordpress
  • Profile picture of the author AndromedaDev
    It really depends what it is that you want to do with the site.
    Do you have/need SEO plugins?
    There are also hundreds of design plugins that can make things look better.
    What do you wish to accomplish?
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    • Profile picture of the author artlivemedia
      Originally Posted by AndromedaDev View Post

      It really depends what it is that you want to do with the site.
      Do you have/need SEO plugins?
      There are also hundreds of design plugins that can make things look better.
      What do you wish to accomplish?
      I would like to suggest you some WordPress Plugins like: All in one SEO, through this plugin you can add title keyword and description of your webiste, Contact Form 7, Wordpress SEO by Yoast, Google Sitemap Generator, Google analytic plugin etc. These are the plugins which can help you for website. Thanks
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      • Profile picture of the author kpmedia
        "All in one SEO" is a terrible plugin that really bogs down sites.
        I've seen it loop code and tank entire server in the past. It's probably the #1 worst plugin out there!

        Use the Yoast SEO plugin instead. That one is lean.
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        • Profile picture of the author FlyingSuccess
          Jeffrey's answer rocks -- but some themes already includes options so you won't need to install some plugins. But for me, I'm currently using the JustLanded Theme from Themeforest and i LOVE it.

          Along with that, i have the following plugins...

          Akismet activated
          Wordpress SEO by Yoast
          Image Widget
          Contact Form 7
          Digg Digg plugin
          Image Widget by Modern Tribe
          w3 total cached

          That's not including a few paid ones that I use to create custom squeeze pages or optin forms.

          Cheers!
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  • Profile picture of the author copilu0
    It depends on what you want to achive. Also be careful because too many plugins installed will make your site loading to be slow
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  • Certainly, Wordpress have enormous plug-ins for all its function to compromise your requirement, but without knowing your requirement how can one suggest a plug-ins for your website. Although i suggest some for you...
    1)Google Sitemap Generator Plugin for fast and easy indexing of your posts and pages.
    2)Google Analytics Plugin to view your web analytics on WordPress Dashboard itself.
    3)Woocommerce especially for WordPress E-Commerce websites and even more.
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  • Profile picture of the author Limonpervez
    You can search on google"top 10 essential wordpress plugins" or like something this
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  • Profile picture of the author BlackCow
    We can help you out more if you can specify the type of site you are building. There are a lot of good wordpress plugins available depending on the type of site.
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  • Profile picture of the author themubeen
    wp total cache is must have plugin which optimize speed and helps to rank as well.

    Cheers,
    Ahmed
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  • Profile picture of the author kenzo22
    [DELETED]
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    • Profile picture of the author RobWil
      I would suggest 'Wordpress SEO by Yoast', 'Akismet', and 'Contact Form 7' plugins for any website. These are must have plugins regardless what your website is about.
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  • Profile picture of the author UMS
    "Better" is very subjective. Better for what?

    Too many people make the mistake of thinking that more WordPress plugins must be better, when in fact they just bog the site down with unneeded cruft.
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    • Profile picture of the author Ron Killian
      Originally Posted by UMS View Post

      "Better" is very subjective. Better for what?

      Too many people make the mistake of thinking that more WordPress plugins must be better, when in fact they just bog the site down with unneeded cruft.
      Exactly. You should only use what you have to. Not only can plugins slow down a site, many of them add extra code to your pages. SE's like content, not code
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  • Profile picture of the author jingle
    contact form 7
    all in one SEO or SEO by YOAST
    wp total cache
    Akismet
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    Hostgator alternatives

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  • Profile picture of the author Wademcm
    I'd be more inclined to think of what you think your website neeeds and then search for a plugin to fill the need. The more plugins you have though, the slower your website will perform, so I wouldn't go plugin crazy. Good content will make the site what you need it to be.

    But I do agree with most people above, a good contact form, SEO Plugins (All in One or Yoast , Google XML Sitemaps) will help with Search Engine Traffic. To speed up your website there's also w3 Total Cache.
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  • Profile picture of the author abidasaalim
    Which type of plugins are you looking? SEO yoast is best for overall
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  • Profile picture of the author wentzco
    Kim Roach put together a tremendous list at Top 60 WordPress Plugins of 2014 .

    I need to start to start creating more WP sites myself as most of my domain names are not being used.
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  • Profile picture of the author imsolutionsgroup
    Here is a good one that will probably save you a ton. It's a visual editor - Thrive Content Builder - Live WordPress Front End Editor

    It will probably also save you some money if you outsource because of coding.
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    • Profile picture of the author Jakeeck
      Originally Posted by imsolutionsgroup View Post

      Here is a good one that will probably save you a ton. It's a visual editor - Thrive Content Builder - Live WordPress Front End Editor

      It will probably also save you some money if you outsource because of coding.
      I'm not sure who made that video, but he lost me after about 2-3 minutes. He needs to get going on showing what the product does. Too much explaining beforehand for me, and I'm interested in front end editing.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jeffery
    Here is a list of most of the plugins I use on the sites I build. All are free except the 1-Minute List Builder (no affiliate link).

    1-Minute List Builder (Paid). Rotate up to 3 popup messages on each post and page as an exit popup or an live popup to build a list or giveaway a product.


    Akismet. Used by millions, Akismet is quite possibly the best way in the world to protect your blog from comment and trackback spam. It keeps your site protected from spam even while you sleep.


    All In One SEO Pack. Out-of-the-box SEO for your WordPress blog.


    Banner Blitz. Banner Ad Creation Plugin.


    Better Delete Revision. Better Delete Revision not only deletes redundant revisions of posts from your WordPress Database, it also deletes other database content related to each revision such meta information, tags, relationships, and more. Better Delete Revision is based on the old "Delete Revision" plugin but it is compatible with the latest version of WordPress (3.x) with improved features.


    Broken Link Checker. Checks your blog for broken links and missing images and notifies you on the dashboard if any are found.


    Custom Header Extended.
    A plugin for allowing users to set a custom header on a per-post basis. This plugin hooks into the WordPress custom-header theme feature and overwrites the values on single post views if the post has been given a custom header.


    Custom Post Widget.
    Show the content of a custom post of the type 'content_block' in a widget or with a shortcode.


    Custom Sidebars. Allows you to create your own widgetized areas and custom sidebars, and select what sidebars to use for each post or page.


    Delete Pending Comments. A quick way to delete all pending comments. Useful for victims of spammer attacks.


    Drop Caps. Used to generate the code for drop caps.


    Dynamic To Top. Adds an automatic and dynamic "To Top" button to scroll long pages back to the top.


    Exclude Pages. This plugin adds a checkbox, "include this page in menus", uncheck this to exclude pages from the page navigation that users see on your site.


    Exploit Scanner. Search the files and database of your WordPress install for signs that may indicate that it has fallen victim to malicious hackers.


    Fast Secure Contact Form for WordPress. An easy and powerful form builder that lets your visitors send you email. Blocks all automated spammers. No templates to mess with.


    Google Authorship Widget. Place a Short Bio on your WordPress blog as a widget containing the required authorship markup.


    Google XML Sitemaps. This plugin will generate a special XML sitemap which will help search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing and Ask.com to better index your blog.


    iThemes Security (formerly Better WP Security) gives you over 30+ ways to secure and protect your WordPress site. On average, 30,000 new websites are hacked each day. WordPress sites can be an easy target for attacks because of plugin vulnerabilities, weak passwords and obsolete software.


    List Evolution. List Evolution is an innovative plugin that allows users to create hover opt-in boxes for keywords sitewide. This new way to build a mailing list for online marketing is making waves in the internet marketing community.


    Maintenance Mode. Adds a splash page to your blog that lets visitors know your blog is down for maintenance. Logged in administrators get full access to the blog including the front-end.


    Page Links To. Lets you make a WordPress page (or other content type) link to an external URL of your choosing, instead of its WordPress URL.

    PayPal Responder. Processes payment for a product via PayPal, then sends an email responder to the customer and returns them to a URL of your choice.

    PC Hide Pages. Allows you to hide pages from WordPress menus, blog searches and search engines.


    PIPS Simple Link Cloaker. PIPS Link Cloaker. This simple WordPress plugin will cloak your affiliate links.


    Platinum SEO Pack. Complete SEO solution for your WordPress blog.


    Post Types Order. Used on the Branded Books Website. Posts Order and Post Types Objects Order using a Drag and Drop Sortable javascript capability.


    Print Friendly and PDF. The #1 Print and PDF button for your WordPress site. Printer Friendly pages without coding, css, or print.css. Fast, easy, and professional.


    Quick Page/Post Redirect Plugin. Redirect Pages, Posts or Custom Post Types to another location quickly (for internal or external URLs). Includes individual post/page options, redirects for Custom Post types, non-existant 301 Quick Redirects (helpful for sites converted to WordPress), New Window functionality, and rel=nofollow functionality.


    SI CAPTCHA Anti-Spam. Adds CAPTCHA anti-spam methods to WordPress forms for comments, registration, lost password, login, or all. This prevents spam from automated bots. WP, WPMU, and BuddyPress compatible.


    Table of Contents Plus. Used on the Internet Marketing Mechanics Blog Website. Powerful yet user friendly plugin that automatically creates a table of contents. Can also output a sitemap listing all pages and categories.


    Testimonial Rotator. Easily add Testimonials to your WordPress Blog or Company Website.


    TinyMCE Advanced. Enables advanced features and plugins in TinyMCE, the visual editor in WordPress.


    Ultimate Maintenance Mode. Work on your website behinds the scenes while you display a Maintenance Mode page to your visitors.


    WordPress Database Backup. On-demand backup of your WordPress database.


    WP Clone by WP Academy. WP Clone is the easiest, fastest and most secure way to move or copy a WordPress site to another domain or hosting server. You can also use it to move your site to/from local server hosting, to create copies of your site for development or testing purposes, to backup your site, and to install per-configured versions of WordPress.


    WP-Optimize. WP-Optimize is an extensive WordPress database cleanup and optimization tool. It doesn't require PhpMyAdmin to clean and optimize your database tables.


    WP Simple Paypal Shopping Cart. Simple WordPress Shopping Cart Plugin, very easy to use and great for selling products and services from your blog!
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  • Profile picture of the author rosarionet
    I have check the suggestions and really believe that Jeffery's post is the best one. However I would advise you to pay attention to Limit Login Attempts. When it comes to protection I personally believe it is good enough.

    Of course you should not install all possible extensions in order to improve the performance of your website or add more and more features. Bear in mind that each extension extends the database ( adds new tables to the database ) of your website and this way increases the changes for a given Mysql query to become slow. The outcome of slow query might be a restriction if your account is situated on a shared hosting machine or performance issues if you are on VPS or Dedicated server.

    Of course the final decision depends on you Good Luck!
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  • Profile picture of the author extravalue
    Install whatever plugin that you really NEED but not WANT because too much of plugin could lower down your site performance.
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  • Profile picture of the author magnificent
    It depends what kind of Wordpress plugins you want. By the way, Jeffery has written lots of good plugins.
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  • Profile picture of the author J35A8
    Originally Posted by Glenn7Harris View Post

    Hi,
    I have several wordpress sites my partner and i are building, adding new content each day. I have several good plugins, on the sites but feel i could add other plugins, that would make my sites better.
    Do you have any recommendations on a certain plugin, that you have for your site - i know i can go to wordpress itself, just would be good to get imput from web owners.
    thanks
    Just like many other warriors have stated, adding too many plugins isn't healthy for your wordpress website. Another thing you need to take into consideration is your servers specification. If your webpage is hogging a lot of the resources, it will impact your webpage load time and also your web host may charge you extra or shut your website down. I had this issue occur when I was running an e-commerce website using Magento. As multiple customers entered the page, it starts to bog down the server.

    Figure out what plugins or features you need. Don't look at others page and add just anything. Most times, you will realize that you don't need them.
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  • Profile picture of the author getbestdesign
    nah install what you need, not what you want, too much plugin will slow your site down...
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  • Profile picture of the author gearmex
    Even you have more plugins installed is ok just don't keep activated everything that you don't regularly use to keep speed going ok.
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  • Profile picture of the author kpmedia
    The goal should always be to use as few plugins as possible.

    Why?
    - security
    - speed
    - resources use - CPU, RAM, Mysql queries

    More plugins means more security holes/threats to worry about.
    More plugins slows down the site in almost all cases, even with caching.

    And host will kick you off shared plans if the site is a resource hog. You'll have to move to a higher grade plan like VPS or semi-dedicated (higher shared) hosting. It costs more, and the VPS route takes much more knowledge on your part.

    Note: You should be using a good host anyway, as they're less likely to suspend your site for using plugins. And picking a good host DOES NOT mean Hostgator/Bluehost/EIG! Look instead to Arvixe, Site5, Veerotech or Stablehost.
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  • Profile picture of the author webdesignindia2
    that is depends on you which words press plugin want to install many new plugin are available on wp.
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  • Profile picture of the author zcrafts
    yes agreed use less plugin to keep wordpress secured.
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  • Profile picture of the author getbestdesign
    i recommend this plugin as "IS A MUST"
    contact form -7 - contact form
    wp-pagenavi - for pagination if youre using custom theme
    nextgen-gallery - for media manager
    == dont bloat your site with too much plugin it has also a downside...
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  • Profile picture of the author imbikinigirl
    Wow, I thought I had some good suggestions then saw Jeff's post. Just look at those....what a great list.
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  • Profile picture of the author josh1az
    Hi

    im looking for a seo link exchange plugin for wordpress


    thx
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    • Profile picture of the author Alex Arvixe
      @kpmedia - Thank you for your recommendation .

      Originally Posted by josh1az View Post

      Hi

      im looking for a seo link exchange plugin for wordpress


      thx
      You can check here to find numerous link exchange plugins for Wordpress: https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/link-exchange
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      • Profile picture of the author Sire
        Three plugins that I find essential is a Firewall plugin, one that limits login attempts and a good cache plugin. The first two to protect the blog from hacking and the last one to speed up the loading times of the blog.
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  • Profile picture of the author donhesh
    No matter what plugin you use. always check the impact on your page speed. Some plugins not running inside your hosting server. they calling so many external resources, which may slow down your site.

    Tip! Always Delete the plugins your not using. Don't make them inactive and keep on the server. It will slow down your site again.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jeffery
    Originally Posted by Jeffery View Post

    Here is a list of most of the plugins I use on the sites I build. All are free except the 1-Minute List Builder (no affiliate link).

    Custom Sidebars. Allows you to create your own widgetized areas and custom sidebars, and select what sidebars to use for each post or page.

    Jeffery 100% :-)
    Custom Sidebars.
    Version: 2.0
    Date: July 8, 2014
    Status: Broke.
    Solution: Scheduled to be fixed ASAP.

    Note: Install or re-install version 1.6 until version 2.0 is fixed:
    WordPress › Custom Sidebars Free « WordPress Plugins

    Edit: July 10, 2014. Fixed and nice new features!

    Jeffery 100% :-)
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    • Profile picture of the author goleza
      Good topic. But as someone has already pointed out, use a plugin if you really must use it to add value to your website. Usage of plugins is discouraged by Google. You can read this out "Avoid Plugins".

      If you are to use plugins, one of the most important plugin you should install is W3 Total Cache. This will help you to improve your website speed performance and to pass the Google rule of avoiding plugins if you make the right settings for it.

      However, there are some plugins that will not work well with W3 Total Cache e. g. Meteor Slides. If you are to install this plugin, you will have to disable the "Mimify JS" in W3 Total Cache settings for your slideshows to work.

      In conclusion, using plugins is good provided you install only those that you must use to improve your website in terms of speed, SEO, security, performance, design, etc.... They slow down greatly your site's speed. If your site takes long to load, then you are not in business. Internet users do not get a good experience at your site.
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      • Profile picture of the author Sire
        Originally Posted by goleza View Post

        Good topic. But as someone has already pointed out, use a plugin if you really must use it to add value to your website. Usage of plugins is discouraged by Google. You can read this out "Avoid Plugins".
        I'm pretty sure that Google is referring to browser plugins and not the WordPress plugins.
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  • Profile picture of the author Veeramanikandan
    Wordpress contain more no.of good Plugins.
    you'll mention the type of plugin need your site.

    Here I recommended some plugins are given below
    1. google-map-with-fancybox-popup
    2. image-horizontal-reel-scroll-slideshow
    3. image-slider-with-description
    4. fancy-gallery
    5. ecwid-shopping-cart

    And also some site are given below:
    1. Responsive WordPress Photo & Video Gallery | WordPress Plugin
    2. Top 7 Most Stylish YouTube WordPress Gallery Plugins - WPMU DEV
    3. Premium WordPress Plugins by WPMU DEV
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  • Profile picture of the author tacitinc
    I am building a custom niche ecommerce site for a friends clothing brand right now & some of the plugins I am utilizing for this build include:

    Easy Google Sitemap
    Yoast SEO + WooCommerce
    Popup Domination 3.0 (paid but I got it for free awhile ago & it still works)
    301 Redirect
    I Recommend This (not mentioned often but great & useful plugin)
    WooCommerce shop to Facebook (another good one not many ppl mention)
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    not a ninja.

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  • Profile picture of the author vivacityinfotech
    Hi,

    There are so many plugins available
    SEO by Yoast
    WP Jobs
    Better Security
    BackupBuddy
    Woo-commerce
    WP Auto FaceBook
    WP to Twitter
    Jigoshop
    BuddyPress
    WP Facebook Like Button

    There is a long list, each having its own features.
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    Thanks & Regards
    Vivacity InfoTech Pvt. Ltd.

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  • Profile picture of the author Jeffery
    WordPress › Advanced post slider « WordPress Plugins
    Here is a new one for me and it does something I have been trying to do for ages. Thing is it takes a little work and ingenuity because I have configured it to do what it is designed to do, but I worked it into opt-forms. Specifically, you can rotate different images in a single opt-in form. This is perfect if you have a website that gives away more than one ebook and you want to display the different ecovers in a small area. The ebook ecovers will rotate within the small space while your optin form remains stationary.

    To make it work install it and select template #3. Also, in your post or widget create the standard WordPress (WP) tables with the WP editor. Last, insert the plugin shortcode into the table cell. After ages of trying different plugins I find that this one works well with shortcodes inside tables/rows/cells.

    So if you want to scale up your visitor's experience and if you want a targeted list this may be for you.

    Jeffery 100% :-)

    P.S. The plugin is free from wordpress.org.
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  • Profile picture of the author farrukhsid
    Hi Friends,Can any buddy tell me which plugin is best for navigation bar in wordpress ?
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