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Wordpress Plugins For New Site?

by MoneySavingLisa
34 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Hi everyone,

After successfully selling two websites last year this time, I am looking to get back in after a long break. I was in frugal blogging, which is one of those niches that takes hours a day to work on. I realize blogging, and learning about SEO here on the forum was something I am really passionate about and miss doing.

Now that I'm going to be working on a new website, and I've been "out of the game" a while, I am wondering what free and premium plugins you'd use when starting a new website fresh? I know some basic things, but in terms of ranking and social sharing, I'm wondering what has been working for everyone lately?

Thanks!
#plugins #site #wordpress
  • Profile picture of the author agmccall
    Different sites have different needs.

    There is no "Must have" plugins.

    The only plugins that I specifically look for when creating a new blog are security plugins

    al
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    • Profile picture of the author Jennifer Hutson
      Originally Posted by agmccall View Post

      Different sites have different needs.

      There is no "Must have" plugins.

      The only plugins that I specifically look for when creating a new blog are security plugins

      al
      There are several plugins I would recommend for any Wordpress site, no matter what the niche.

      1. Google XML Sitemaps - Helps your site get indexed in Google more efficiently.
      2. Yoast SEO - Helps you optimize your keywords, properly.
      3. Akismet - Anti-spam plugin. This works great for most spam comments on your blog.

      I definitely consider those must-haves. Now, if you're an affiliate and are looking to cloak your links, Pretty Link is another great plugin that I would highly recommend.

      I wish you luck with your site!
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      • Profile picture of the author Emir Hayric
        I am using Avada and love it the amount of options and 3D effects are amazing and it is reasonably priced (I think about $60). The downside is the overhead as I have noticed some slowdown but I am also on a cheap shared hosting plan for the moment.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ben Holmes
    Less is more when it comes to plugins.

    Every plugin is going to affect your site - they can slow it down, they can provide security holes for hackers to come through.

    I'm constantly trying to cut down on the number of plugins I use.

    But Al said it best... different sites have different needs. I'm a blogger who also has funnels, my needs would be totally different from someone running an Adsense or Review site, for example.

    Far more important than the plugins you use is how fast your site loads.

    Take some time to optimize it to the point where it's loading at 1.5 seconds or less.
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  • Profile picture of the author cheexy
    If you want free plugins , check ones by Yoast
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    Ultimate AutoBlog Web on WordPress
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  • Profile picture of the author UBotBuddy
    These four I have found that I cannot live without. I agree with Ben less is good.

    Akismet
    Simply Show IDs
    Exclude Pages from Navigation
    WordPress Database Backup

    (plus my membership plugin)

    I am in a tight niche so I don't have to worry with SEO plus some of them can be resource hogs all their own.

    Buddy
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  • Profile picture of the author ChrisBa
    The ones I use for most of my wordpress sites are:

    Jetpack
    All in one seo
    Akismet


    Then I'll use others when they are required based on the sites needs
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  • Profile picture of the author affiliatez
    If you are building website based on default wp theme, do NOT need to install any plugins except all in one seo pack (free version), that's fully enough!
    The more plugins, the more risk as wp have many vulnerable with it.
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  • Profile picture of the author WillR
    In terms of rankings, the less plugins the better.

    Don't be looking for plugins to install. You should only install plugins that are a necessity for your site.
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    .

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  • Profile picture of the author jeffreyhuan
    All in One SEO Pack
    Optimize your blog for search engines

    Google Sitemap Generator
    Help search engines better index your blog

    W3 Total Cache
    Improve user experience and page speed
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  • Profile picture of the author vishwa
    Actually its totally depends on the requirement of your blog. But a low amount of plugins is advisable to use to increase your blog performance.
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    Bloggershook.com- Blogging, and Digital Marketing
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  • Profile picture of the author Ainu011
    Thre are 3 esencialin my case:
    All In One SEO - page/post SEO and XML site map tool in one
    WP Cash - speeding up those pages is a big thing
    Custom Sidebar - in case you need different sidebars for different categories
    The rest is dictated by the need of sites/niche ...but as many said it already the less you have the better :-)
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    • Profile picture of the author Ainu011
      Originally Posted by Ainu011 View Post

      Thre are 3 esencialin my case:
      All In One SEO - page/post SEO and XML site map tool in one
      WP Cash - speeding up those pages is a big thing
      Custom Sidebar - in case you need different sidebars for different categories
      The rest is dictated by the need of sites/niche ...but as many said it already the less you have the better :-)
      I\ve just finished my tech/fun blog and used these:
      Akismet - comments (even though comments are disable I'm thinking this must be the one)
      All-in-One WP Migration - I was building WP locally so needed something to move to server. Really easy to use and great as a backup plugin as well.
      Brid.tv - video player plugin with tones of options for adds
      Custom Sidebars - if you need a different sidebars for different categories this one will do the job
      Mail Chimp's - own plugin for mails
      Multisite Language Switcher - great way for handling site in 2 or more languages
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  • Profile picture of the author a2hosting
    -W3 Total Cache
    -Rewrite wp-login.php
    -reCAPTCHA
    -EWWW Image Optimizer
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  • Profile picture of the author borsaronero
    Originally Posted by MoneySavingLisa View Post

    Hi everyone,

    After successfully selling two websites last year this time, I am looking to get back in after a long break. I was in frugal blogging, which is one of those niches that takes hours a day to work on. I realize blogging, and learning about SEO here on the forum was something I am really passionate about and miss doing.

    Now that I'm going to be working on a new website, and I've been "out of the game" a while, I am wondering what free and premium plugins you'd use when starting a new website fresh? I know some basic things, but in terms of ranking and social sharing, I'm wondering what has been working for everyone lately?

    Thanks!
    OnePress Social Locker it is always present on all my websites
    Pretty Link Pro
    Sometimes Better WordPress Minify
    Comment Redirect by Yoast
    Contact Form 7
    Custom Sidebars
    Frizzly
    Shortcoder
    Subscribe to Comments Reloaded
    WordPress SEO by Yoast
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    • Profile picture of the author OnlineStoreHelp
      I agree, use the plugins that let you do something you can't easily program or design yourself. Akismet comes standard out of the box and then Hello Dolly I delete. Here are my choices at the moment.

      Themes:
      Blogging - I am using Genesis more and more with a nice child theme. You can also go with Woothemes and Elegant themes at first but I have been doing more and more with Genesis myself.
      Corporate - I have several I use for local customers but I don't think that is what you are looking for right now.
      Membership - OptimizePress 2. Has a learning curve but responsive sales/landing and page building for courses

      Plugins
      Digital Access Pass - This is my go to for my courses. Veena and Ravi keep adding more and more and more into it. Its more an application that has a plugin that interacts with it.
      Sumome - Until you are ready to spend money on a more powerful pop up and slide up plugin, this is great to start out with.
      XML Site Map Plugin - Light weight and builds a site map for the search engines
      Yoast and/or All in one SEO - Help you fill out those meta titles and descriptions.

      Hosting
      You don't have to spend extra money on good hosting. I have been using Veerotech and except for a few hiccups they have been great. Simplest thing is look for a host using litespeed since I have noticed if they spend the extra money on the litespeed license, you can usually bet the hardware is up to snuff, or why pay more instead of apache.

      Screencapture/editing
      Camtasia/Screenflow - If you are just getting back into blogging you know, or should know, video is becoming huge. If you have a Mac, 100 bucks for Screenflow is a cheap way to start. Camtasia for windows is well worth the money.

      Microphone - Get a good quality USB mic for when you do your recordings. Nothing screams unprofessional than that tinny laptop mic sound because they couldn't spend 50 bucks on a decent USB mic. Blue Snowball (what I use), Samson Meteor Mic, or Audio-Technica ATR2500 will do you just fine.

      Maybe more then you asked for but its the advice I would give to anyone getting back into the game.
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      • Profile picture of the author Emir Hayric
        @OnlineStoreHelp - Great reply thank you!

        A question about Genesis if you don't mind, my current theme is Avada and while it is very nice and LOADED with options I feel it is a resource hog with too much 3D animation/JS. Have you seen good performance using Genesis with a child theme? There are some pretty nice looking themes I must say and some even include Genesis for under 100 bucks.
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        • Profile picture of the author OnlineStoreHelp
          Originally Posted by DreamTFK View Post

          @OnlineStoreHelp - Great reply thank you!

          A question about Genesis if you don't mind, my current theme is Avada and while it is very nice and LOADED with options I feel it is a resource hog with too much 3D animation/JS. Have you seen good performance using Genesis with a child theme? There are some pretty nice looking themes I must say and some even include Genesis for under 100 bucks.
          I have used Avada for several customers and you are right, very pretty theme and tons of build functionality but it can be a resource hog. You can make it faster by doing the following:

          Installing WTC total Cache - Go to the support site and you can upload their setting and tweak them.
          Optimize your photos - Any pictures that are to big slow down the sites a ton
          Turn off functionality you aren't using - This disables the javascript to speed it up.

          Do all of that and you can speed your site up to less than 3 second loads.

          But to answer your question, yes Genesis with a child theme loads just find. One site I finished for a customer, loads in anywhere from 836 milliseconds and 2.9 seconds (NY,NY and Amsterdam respectively). Mind you, the short codes are not as powerful as Avada and you have to go into the code to really update your colors, so not as push button as Avada. One of my fav themes is Infocus. Nice balance between push button functionality of Avada and speed of Genesis.
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          • Profile picture of the author Emir Hayric
            Originally Posted by OnlineStoreHelp View Post

            I have used Avada for several customers and you are right, very pretty theme and tons of build functionality but it can be a resource hog. You can make it faster by doing the following:

            Installing WTC total Cache - Go to the support site and you can upload their setting and tweak them.
            Optimize your photos - Any pictures that are to big slow down the sites a ton
            Turn off functionality you aren't using - This disables the javascript to speed it up.

            Do all of that and you can speed your site up to less than 3 second loads.

            But to answer your question, yes Genesis with a child theme loads just find. One site I finished for a customer, loads in anywhere from 836 milliseconds and 2.9 seconds (NY,NY and Amsterdam respectively). Mind you, the short codes are not as powerful as Avada and you have to go into the code to really update your colors, so not as push button as Avada. One of my fav themes is Infocus. Nice balance between push button functionality of Avada and speed of Genesis.
            Which would you recommend for blogging? I notice many are for magazine, e-commerce or portfolio. Focus (Same as Infocus?), Streamline and Balance made my short list. Is there another site besides StudioPress that has a selection of child themes?
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            • Profile picture of the author OnlineStoreHelp
              Originally Posted by DreamTFK View Post

              Which would you recommend for blogging? I notice many are for magazine, e-commerce or portfolio. Focus (Same as Infocus?), Streamline and Balance made my short list. Is there another site besides StudioPress that has a selection of child themes?
              Infocus is another premium theme like Avada you purchase on Themeforest. As for Genesis, there are several I like the look and feel of, including Eleven40 (nice blogging theme), minimum pro and others. Your best bet is to take a look at all of them and see what look and feel you like.

              You can also search for other Genesis themes outside studio press. I am still learning the themes so I can't say yay or nay on a ton of them, just know what works in particular circumstances for me.

              Or if you have the time and can play with Genesis, use a sample child theme and code your own. I am not there yet...
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  • Profile picture of the author eurostar
    All it depends what kind of site you have and what you planning to offer to your customers.

    more plug in , slower the respone time is going to be
    so be careful about plugins,

    and also security issues.

    thanks
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    • Profile picture of the author eurostar
      Originally Posted by eurostar View Post

      All it depends what kind of site you have and what you planning to offer to your customers.

      more plug in , slower the respone time is going to be
      so be careful about plugins,

      and also security issues.

      thanks
      more simple the site more better its going to be
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      • Profile picture of the author Emir Hayric
        Originally Posted by eurostar View Post

        more simple the site more better its going to be
        Did you just quote yourself??
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  • Profile picture of the author zachary11
    Hi I may have the product you are looking for. below is the link please give a try im just starting also and would love to hear your response.
    Thanks so much warriors!
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  • Profile picture of the author Sandakelum
    Well I believe there is such thing like must have plugins. For an example, you must have an on-page SEO plugin and a sitemap plugin. And you must also have an plugin to control comment spam. I googled must have plugins for WordPress and some good suggestions came up. I think you should read them too. Here's a one to start,

    6 Must Have Plugins for WordPress Blog
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  • Profile picture of the author JohnZ
    Choosing the best WordPress plugins depends entirely on your needs. What works for one website may not work for another. Personally, I recommend All in One SEO, Comment Luv, Google Sitemap, SEO Friendly Images, SEO Smart Links +, and social media plugins to make sharing easier. You can also add plugins for monitoring traffic, backing up your site, or preventing plagiarism.
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  • Profile picture of the author mtubuzz
    I would recommend you following Plugins :
    1) W3 Total Cache
    2) Jetpack
    3) SEO by Yoast
    4) Contact Form 7
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  • Profile picture of the author Chrisb720
    For SEO plugins I have moved from All-in-One SEO and Yoast to a little known one called Little Hippo

    See here https://wordpress.org/plugins/little-hippo/ much easier to use and great for doing meta data and alt tags quickly.
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  • Profile picture of the author visimedia
    you are a war room member, search on the thread something like 'plugin for internet marketers' someone was sharing a good number of plugins , put together into a list.

    Neat and powerful!
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  • Profile picture of the author felixdelmante
    Like a lot of people have mentioned, there isn't a right or wrong answer to which plugins to use for your WordPress site. I would suggest getting familiar with some of the most popular and seeing which works best for you. At the end of the day, it's your style and needs that will dictate how your website is set up. Here are a couple that I would recommend you take a look at:

    WordPress SEO by YoastYoast
    There are many SEO plugins out there, but WordPress SEO from Joost de Valk has exactly the right mix of ease-of-use and feature richness. In my opinion, it has the most sane defaults and most of the features can be understood by even SEO neophytes.

    W3 Total Cache
    Speed is of the essence in modern web design, and WordPress is more of a Sherman tank than a Ferrari; it’ll get yourything you need to survive whatever the web throws your way, but 0-60 in 3 where you going and has eve seconds is not in its nature. W3 Total Cache is hugely configurable and I appreciate its ability to hook up with a wide range of content distribution networks.

    Simple URLs
    As you might expect, Simple URLs is a URL management tool that lets you keep a tight rein on outgoing links.

    JetPack WordPress Plugin
    I don’t use everything JetPack has to offer, but I find the comment features, contact form, publicize feature, CSS editor, and push notifications very handy.

    SEO Friendly Images
    I occasionally forget to add alt tag content to my images, and this plugin helps me make sure I’m not completely missing out on the benefits.

    These are just my favorites, but there's an even more extensive list here: My Go-To SEO Plugins For A New WordPress Install
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  • Profile picture of the author healthymike
    Hi there,

    is there any plugin error inspector software or error checking software advising you of the errors your plugins are causing?

    and what if you have things like events and newsletters...do you use new sites like sub.domains instead of plugins and if you do how do you link them to your site in widgets?

    and forgive me if I am naive about this....what if you have a lot of images? how is the best way to have them optmized if you need high quailty images? How are they compressed in file size? How can they load fast and then not clog up the page load? What are the best ways after they've loaded on a site to compress large files? is there an automatic way for them to compress and be optimized as they upload to the site?

    does anyone use ubermenu?

    thanks

    from a plugin and image hog trying to go lean and get page load fast

    p.s. hope you had a nice thanksgiving and black friday
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    • Profile picture of the author masterjani
      Originally Posted by healthymike View Post

      Hi there,

      is there any plugin error inspector software or error checking software advising you of the errors your plugins are causing?

      and what if you have things like events and newsletters...do you use new sites like sub.domains instead of plugins and if you do how do you link them to your site in widgets?

      and forgive me if I am naive about this....what if you have a lot of images? how is the best way to have them optmized if you need high quailty images? How are they compressed in file size? How can they load fast and then not clog up the page load? What are the best ways after they've loaded on a site to compress large files? is there an automatic way for them to compress and be optimized as they upload to the site?

      does anyone use ubermenu?

      thanks

      from a plugin and image hog trying to go lean and get page load fast

      p.s. hope you had a nice thanksgiving and black friday
      Always use wp super cache to load the site quickly. For newsletter having a one of widget and a page is enough. you can also use a ad pop plugin to showcase your subscription form.
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  • Profile picture of the author masterjani
    For the op, You can always choose conventional plugins that is mentioned above such as all-in-one-seo plugin like that. When you choose to sell, you can buy a advanced license of that plugin and mention it in the sales page makes you to get good price.
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  • Profile picture of the author Diana Lane
    I agree about keeping the use of plugins down where possible, but the one I can't be without is the Ozh drop-down admin menu plugin. The boost it gives to productivity - mine, anyway - makes it worth having around for me.

    https://wordpress.org/plugins/ozh-admin-drop-down-menu/

    I've been using it for so long that the standard WordPress admin always feels really cumbersome and clunky without it.
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