6 WordPress Plugins Every New Website Should Have Installed

People like to use WordPress as their CMS platform because of it's ease of use and built in SEO features.  One of the platforms greatest assets is it's huge plugin repository.  Plugins give your WordPress site all of those extras that would normally require a programmer and dozens of hours to create on your website.

While there are thousands of plugins available for WordPress,  the 5 plugins listed below are ones that every website should have installed, regardless of your theme or the purpose of your website.

WordPress SEO Plugin by Yoast

This plugin is a must for any WordPress website.  It's a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) plugin that has every feature and the kitchen sink built into it.  There are basic SEO settings as well as some very advanced features…..the nice thing with using this plugin is that Joost de Valk….aka “Yoast” provides great support and tutorials for the plugin.  WordPress SEO will give all of those SEO extras that the stock version of WordPress lacks.

W3 Total Cache

Caching plugins are a must for any WordPress website.  A caching plugin will store static copies of your webpages on your server and serve those static pages to viewers.  What this does is it greatly reduces the content requests on your server….greatly speeding up the load time of your web pages and making your readers happy.  W3 Total Cache is the most robust and popular of the caching plugins, though I also like Quick Cache because it works and it's simple to configure.

Google Analytics for WordPress

Another great plugin by Yoast.  This plugin makes integrating your Google Analytics account and your website easy, no coding required.  It also adds additional features like custom reporting according to author, category or tags.  If you're serious about your website, you should be tracking what happens on it and this plugin makes it easy.

WP Smush It

If you enjoy having lots of images on your website, you might notice that your pages sometimes take a long time to load.  Everytime a reader opens a new page, your server has to load all of the images,along with everything else on the page…..all in a few seconds.  The images on a site are usually the largest files and thus usually the slowest to load.  WP Smush It automatically compresses the file size of your images, making loading times faster and creating a better experience for your readers.  Along with a good caching plugin, WP Smush It will greatly reduce your website load times.

Akismet

Though it's getting a little dated, Akismet is still a must have anti-spam plugin every website should have.  Akismet is owned by Automatic, which also owns WordPress, so you know you'll always have a safe and up to date anti-spam plugin.  This plugin will stop most automated spamming software (robots) but will not stop most manual spam comment, which can be equally annoying but is more manageable.  Besides, when you're first starting out, you may welcome spam comments over no comments at all.

Limit Login Attempts

This plugin will lockout your admin login panel if someone tries to crack your password or use some sort of brute force attack on your site.  A brute force attack is when someone uses automated software to try and guess your password….using hundreds of thousands of guesses in minutes.  After a set number of login attempts, the user's IP address will be recorded and they will not be able to attempt a login again for a certain amount of time, or never……you control the settings.

What plugins do you use?

These are the 6 plugins I install on every website, regardless of the type of website.  As you can see these are all backend plugins that will help improve the performance and SEO of your website.   What WordPress plugins do you use for your website?

 

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Gary

CEO at 3Bug Media
Gary Shouldis is the founder of 3Bug Media, a web marketing company that helps businesses create 360 Marketing Strategies to dominate their market. His blog is read by over 20 thousand small business owners a month and has been featured in the N.Y. Times Small Business, Business Insider and Yahoo Small Business.