Wordpress Plugin Recommendations

29 replies
Hello all.

So, I only just now bought some hosting, a domain, and installed a wordpress theme... my website is up and running right now.

It's taking hours to customize the thing 'cause I don't know what the hell I am doing, but I'm making the best of it.

I noticed my wordpress theme website came with 2 plugins:

AKISMET and HELLO DOLLY.

I have no idea what they are....

Anyway.......... can any of y'all recommend any FREE wordpress plugins that I should have for my website? My website is a small, niche affiliate site.

Thanks.
#plugin #recommendations #wordpress
  • Profile picture of the author AnniePot
    Every plugin hogs a little bit (sometimes a huge chunk) of your resources. The only one I would recommend initially is Wordfence Security, then wait and see what you absolutely need for the tasks your website will be performing.

    By loading your Wordpress installation with often completely unnecessary plugins will slow your site down.
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    • Profile picture of the author Now Is The Time
      Originally Posted by AnniePot View Post

      Every plugin hogs a little bit (sometimes a huge chunk) of your resources. The only one I would recommend initially is Wordfence Security, then wait and see what you absolutely need for the tasks your website will be performing.

      By loading your Wordpress installation with often completely unnecessary plugins will slow your site down.
      Wordfence Security? okay. Thanks.

      How about all-in-one-seo?
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  • Yoast SEO for your SEO work.

    -CG
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    • Profile picture of the author AnniePot
      I personally use All In One SEO, but Yoast is great too, just comes down to personal preference. For help with configuration settings just search YouTube for 'configure all in one seo' or 'configure yoast seo.'
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    • Profile picture of the author Now Is The Time
      Originally Posted by TeKn1qu3z View Post

      All in one SEO, All in one adsense,
      Any Good social plugin for your posts on scoial media. I am using only two All in one seo and all in adsense.
      Hi. Those 2 plugins are the only plugins you use for ALL your wordpress sites? that's it?
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      • Profile picture of the author Tony Palus
        Find some plugins for capturing e-mail addresses. These are important, others depend on what you want to do/create.
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        • Profile picture of the author a2hosting
          Not only does each plugin potentially slow down your site, they can also be a security risk. If you're not going to use a plugin, I would completely uninstall it. Give Hello Dolly the boot for sure.
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  • Profile picture of the author natethegreat7037
    If you will be adding articles for it, definitely recommend Seo Yoast or All in one SEO pack.

    Others I like are:
    1. All in one webmaster. Makes it easier to link your website to google/bing/etc webmaster tools to receive data about your site.

    2. There's also a google analytics plugin you can even incporate to receive stats about your site on your dashboard, or even insert as a widget on your site.

    3. I also like 'Who's online'. It's a great plugin for monitoring your visitors/bots that are crawling as well. It even shows you were that visitor came from on a web map.


    Those are just a few of my favorites.
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    • Profile picture of the author Now Is The Time
      Originally Posted by natethegreat7037 View Post

      If you will be adding articles for it, definitely recommend Seo Yoast or All in one SEO pack.

      Others I like are:
      1. All in one webmaster. Makes it easier to link your website to google/bing/etc webmaster tools to receive data about your site.

      2. There's also a google analytics plugin you can even incporate to receive stats about your site on your dashboard, or even insert as a widget on your site.

      3. I also like 'Who's online'. It's a great plugin for monitoring your visitors/bots that are crawling as well. It even shows you were that visitor came from on a web map.


      Those are just a few of my favorites.
      This is cool information... I wanted to inquire about plugins that would show me stuff like where people were coming from.

      Thanks.
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  • Profile picture of the author Now Is The Time
    Thank you all for all your recommendations.
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  • Profile picture of the author astral walker
    Originally Posted by Now Is The Time View Post

    Hello all.

    So, I only just now bought some hosting, a domain, and installed a wordpress theme... my website is up and running right now.

    It's taking hours to customize the thing 'cause I don't know what the hell I am doing, but I'm making the best of it.

    I noticed my wordpress theme website came with 2 plugins:

    AKISMET and HELLO DOLLY.

    I have no idea what they are....

    Anyway.......... can any of y'all recommend any FREE wordpress plugins that I should have for my website? My website is a small, niche affiliate site.

    Thanks.
    I would suggest you some free WordPress plugins that are useful. I personally use them on my blog. Currently, I have disabled some.

    1) Ad Injection
    2) Akismet
    3) Autoptimize
    4) Easy Noindex And Nofollow
    5) Facebook Comments
    6)Limit Login Attempts
    7)MailChimp
    8)Monarch Plugin
    9)Pretty Link Lite
    10)SI CAPTCHA Anti-Spam
    11)Use Google Libraries
    12)WordPress SEO by Yoast
    13)WP-Optimize
    14)WP SMTP
    15)WP Super Cache
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  • Profile picture of the author heroboy
    Originally Posted by Now Is The Time View Post

    I noticed my wordpress theme website came with 2 plugins:

    AKISMET and HELLO DOLLY.

    I have no idea what they are....

    Anyway.......... can any of y'all recommend any FREE wordpress plugins that I should have for my website? My website is a small, niche affiliate site.

    Thanks.
    You don't need those plugins. You can delete those.

    I would recommend these 3 plugins for you:
    • Contact Form 7 - for adding a contact form
    • WP Super Cache - it helps load website quicker
    • WordPress SEO by Yoast - helps with SEO
    There are a lot of attractive things you can do to your website using various plugins. However, too many plugins will slow down the site considerably. So, be careful and only install the ones you need.
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    • Profile picture of the author Michael Bely
      Here are my starting thoughts for you

      0. I use neither Akismet nor Dolly. Akismet is designed to fight spam, but I use a simpler plugin that does its work well and is free (see below). Dolly is a kind of joke.
      1. Do have as little plugins as possible, because they not only use your server resources making your website load slower, may leave trash in your WordPress files and database, and can even destroy your website, but they also bring more risk for your website security when you do not notice it.
      2. Update plugins regularly, delete plugins that you don't use or which are not active (because even if plugins are not active, they can be still a loophole for a hacker or a hacking script)
      3. As regards WordPress security, it's a separate big topic. There are several well-known and established plugins (e.g. Sucuri Security, iThemes Security, Wordfence, Bulletproof Security). Unlike many people may think, all security plugins do not focus on one thing. They are different - they focus on protection, scanning, monitoring, post-hacking differently. Their combinations with other plugins are even more effective. You may read this detailed article on this topic.
      4. I suggest installing new plugins only when you require some functionality. Here's a list of some of the plugins I use that can be helpful for you too in a general case:
      - Broken Link Checker (Checks your blog for broken links and missing images and notifies you on the dashboard if any are found.)
      - Comment Redirect by Yoast (Redirect commenters who just made their first comment to a page of your choice. On this page, you could ask them to subscribe, like you on Facebook and lots more!)
      - Fast Secure Contact Form (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. )
      - some plugin with social sharing buttons (there are some plugins, but you need to check them individually if they work well for you): I like Floating Social Bar which is not very fancy but works well for me.
      - Invisible Captcha (great simple but super effective plugin that eliminates automated spam)
      - Limit Login Attempts (works well for typical brute force hacking attempts)
      - Stealth Login Page (a simple plugins that works like a two-factor authemtication option to protect you from authentication hacking)
      - Subscribe to Comments Reloaded (enables commenters to sign up for e-mail notifications)
      - W3 Total Cache (caching pugin that fastens your website, WP Super Cache is another option)
      - WordPress SEO by Yoast (I just chosen it rather than all-in-one-seo)
      - Simple URLs (hides your affiliate links)

      Each plugin in my list above is free. And all of them have alternatives. So if you need other options or features you need to make a research or ask community for their opinion.
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  • Profile picture of the author Agus S
    You can use plugin :

    Plugin auto pingle
    Plugin cache
    Plugin xml google sitemap
    Plugin all in one seo pack
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  • Profile picture of the author st0nec0ld
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  • Profile picture of the author vishwa
    You can use Yoast SEO plugin for doing seo work on your blog. You have to use Wordfence plugin for security of your blog. last but not the least always use less amount of plugins until it is not very necessary. using a lot of plugins can slow down your WordPress site.
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  • Profile picture of the author DoubleOhDave
    W3 Cache
    Cloudflare
    P3
    Wordpress SEO (Yoast)
    WR Pagebuilder (awesome!) or Pagebuilder by Site Origin (also awesome)
    Simple Social Icons
    Various others if it's a Genesis theme...
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  • A SEO plugin > Search the plugin library
    A popup plugin > Again, search the plugin library
    A security/backup plugin
    Use HELLOBar (Hellobar.com) for leads (Plugin)

    Hope this helps
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  • Profile picture of the author Matt Broody
    Good plugins:

    W3 Cache, Yoast
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  • Profile picture of the author Chris19h
    Definitely WordPress SEO! Best way to go for SEO.

    You will also want something to backup your site, try updraft plus.

    Last, you want limit logins. This plugin will stop a brute force attack!

    Hope these help! Chris
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  • Profile picture of the author voldamort
    hello dolly is not needed so either delete or unactivate it ... and akismet is very important because it fights to spam in your blog with comments . so make an account on wordpress and just follow the instructions it gives ......search for best security plugins online with best ratings ....
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  • Profile picture of the author centrora
    Add Centrora Security in addition to Wordfence, the two combination hardens your WordPress website and you will be hackers free
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  • Profile picture of the author andorod77
    Use all in one SEO or Yoast for your SEO

    I use Sumome to help with the social aspect (this is not a wordpress plugin but can be utilized in any website)

    And W3 cache to improve your sites responsiveness
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  • Profile picture of the author Slade556
    Akismet is useful, I'd keep it, it really does protect you from spam, by sending everything 'suspicious' to the spam folder. Sure, the occasional spam comment might get through, but that doesn't happen too often.

    Hello Dolly is a joke by WordPress, it really isn't necessary that you keep it

    As for what other plugins you should install, I definitely recommend the Yoast SEO plugin, you will need it!

    A cache plugin can't hurt, it's not mandatory but it's useful.

    I'd also recommend you use a social media plugin, they are free, you only need to find one you like. Personally, I recommend the Simple Share Buttons, but there are a ton of similar plugins you can choose from.
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  • Profile picture of the author kushalshah
    Yoast for SEO, Sitemap & 301 redirects are some of the best wordpress plugins I can't survive without.
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