The 10 WordPress Plugins Every Sucessful Blogger Uses

28 January 2017

WordPress is one of the most amazing programs to grace our modern age of technology. It powers countless websites and continues to improve with every update and change. It’s the product of numerous people working on the open-source software and a true accomplishment. It’s also the best platform for bloggers.

Beyond the ease-of-use, WordPress is also great because of its plugins. These bite-sized apps give us huge flexibility and features we need to keep our sites healthy and our visitors happy. Today, I’m going to show you 10 plugins every successful blogger is using.

10 Plugins You Need For Your Blog Today

Some plugins offer additional security, some offer peace of mind, and still others improve the user experience. A careful combination of them can result in a powerhouse of a blog that runs smoothly and provides a great experience for visitors.

Let’s take a look at ten plugins I couldn’t live without (and neither should you!):

1. W3 Total Cache

Website speed is incredibly important. According to studies, internet users today expect a website to load in 2 seconds or less, and every second that they have to wait past that tests their patience. To get your website down to this time, you need a good caching plugin.

W3 Total Cache fulfills this need handedly with their plug-and-play solution. Once you have the plugin installed and activated, you don’t need to touch it ever again if you don’t want to. Having it installed to make your pages load faster for users by caching data and making it easily accessible to browsers.

Better speed equivalates to a better experience, more conversions, and higher search engine rankings.

2. SEO by Yoast

Speaking of search rankings, you’re going to need assistance with your search engine optimization. It isn’t something anyone can do themselves. SEO by Yoast is by far the most well-reviewed tool for this purpose.

Having a higher search engine ranking for your new website will do wonders for visibility and potential conversions. That’s why a tool like this is so important to have.

It’s most common use is for evaluating a page’s content. This tool will track instances of your main keyword, and how it’s been used throughout the post. You’ll also have the option to customize things like the permalink, title tag, and meta description.

This tool goes beyond that for those who have technical knowledge of SEO as well. Things like XML sitemaps can be generated easily with this plugin. It’s by far the best tool for managing and improving optimization across your site.

3. Login Lockdown

By default, WordPress does not limit the number of times you can attempt to log in. This leaves you vulnerable because it gives hackers an unlimited number of chances to guess your login. With this plugin, if the number of attempts is passed, then it blocks the I.P address itself to ensure the would-be hacker can’t use another method to keep trying.

The default setting is a 1-hour lock after 3 failed attempts, but you can modify this using the administration settings of the plugin.

4. OptinMonster

This is one of the most trusted options for conversion rate optimization. You can trigger an email subscription when people are leaving your site and utilize a number of different tactics beyond this to capture more email subscribers than you ever could in the past.

Email marketing continues to be an extremely valid way of boosting your engagement and conversions, and this plugin is the #1 choice for doing so.

5. BackupBuddy

You may feel like your blog or website is invincible, but there’s always the chance that something could go wrong. The last thing you want is to lose hundreds or thousands of hours of work because you didn’t have backups in place.

This plugin is a simple and easy tool you can use to ensure your website is backed up in the event of a hack or a server issue.

6. MaxCDN

In the interest of website speed and performance, a CDN or Content Delivery Network is a must. These networks deliver content to web browsers based on the location of users that are accessing it. This geographical delivery ensures that speed is maximized for your visitors.

This plugin is a great way to get started with a CDN so you can see how it improves your website’s performance.

7. WPForms

Forms are going to come up as part of developing a website, so a form builder is a must. Whether it’s for contacting you or finalizing a sale, plugins like this are absolutely needed. This option is a great beginner-friendly option.

Drag-and-drop functionality means that you’ll be able to create forms, email subscriptions, payments, and anything else you need information for, with ease.

8. Wordfence

Security in today’s world is more important than ever. You need a good plugin to ensure your information and your site is safe. Wordfence handles these tasks with a great plugin that protects you on multiple fronts.

Things like bots that try to brute force their way into your site will be blocked automatically by this plugin. You can also get customized email alerts if anything suspicious happens.

9. WP Optimize

Keeping your databases optimized can go a long way towards maintaining your site’s health and performance. That being said, it can be extremely daunting or downright dangerous to your site if you don’t know what you’re doing.

This plugin will keep things in check automatically, and leave the rest of the daily tasks in your capable hands.

10 Google Analytics Dashboard

Google Analytics is a must-have tool and a huge value, seeing as how it’s free. This plugin will give you the opportunity to see your analytics in your dashboard on WordPress, which is convenient since you would have to otherwise leave and go to your dashboard to see them.

Final ThoughtsHaving the proper plugins can elevate a site from good to great. Do you utilize any of these plugins on your blog? Let us know in the comments!

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What You Need to Know About Guest Posting in 2021

Guest posting is a type of marketing that often gets an eyebrow raise. The truth is that there are many ways to utilize guest posting – some of them are excellent tools in your marketing arsenal, and others may get you on Google’s bad side. The key is knowing the difference and using only legitimate guest posting strategies. But what does that look like? Here, we offer some pointers and helpful information from EraBright, a Black-owned advertising agency. What You Need to Know About Guest Posting in 2021 A great guest post is one that helps you, but also provides some value to the publisher and readers. Before getting started, target sites that make sense for your business. This helps your SEO strategy and avoids your link being viewed by Google quality raters as being “spammy”. How to Find Guest Post Opportunities There are many blogs out there that have a clear message to “contribute”, “write for us”, etc. These are great opportunities to contact them and find out more about their policies. If there are sites that you like and match your target, but they don’t identify that they accept guest posts, you can always reach out to them individually. Just remember that you won’t always get a “yes”. Some tips for finding blogs that accept guests posts include: Search for blogs in your market or niche Choose blogs that are authoritative and have a high domain authority/rank Choose blogs that have followers, readers, or high engagement Assess the blog’s social media Search Google for a topic and “guest post” and see what type of results you get. You may find other bloggers in your industry on sites that will also accept a guest post from you. Writing a Great Guest Post Once you have narrowed down where you want to submit a guest post, the next step is writing the content. The goal of guest posting is to bring attention to your brand, business, products, or services. Therefore, you want your guest post to be interesting and informative, and you want it to bring awareness to your brand. Look at the blogs you are targeting and get an idea of the sort of content that is published there. Take note of blogs with a lot of engagement. You can use a similar style to successful posts, just make sure you match the tone of the site. You should also choose a topic that is relevant to your brand and the chosen blog. Write your content in a way that is “evergreen”, meaning it won’t become quickly outdated. What about Backlinks? For many people who guest post, the overarching goal isn’t to build backlinks. Of course, getting a do-follow backlink to your site is an added bonus. Increasingly, websites are only allowing guest posts to contain no-follow links, which means the link won’t go back to your site. While that’s bad news for backlinking, it’s not detrimental to your goal of brand awareness. After all, you can mention your brand in the article and provide a link, and also will likely have author information at the bottom. One word of caution about backlinks – Google can penalize websites that have low authority or spammy backlinks. If the backlinks seem irrelevant, poorly placed, or low quality, it can actually hurt your Google ranking. The best way to avoid this is to choose legitimate blogs with a decent domain authority/rank, and avoid sites with a high spam score. Conclusion It seems like every year there are new guidelines and advice for how to manage digital marketing and SEO. Guest posting is one element that seems to be evolving more now than in the past, however. Increasingly, search engines are watching how sites interact and link to one another. For this reason, it is important to be selective in your guest posting adventures. Read Also: Creative Marketing Strategies to Put Your Small Translation Business Why SEO is still the digital channel with the highest ROI Effective Ways to Utilize Digital Marketing

Doing It The Right Way: Common Mistakes Every New Blogger Commits

Many people thought that when you choose a blog for a living, you are just only making money while sitting. But when you let them write their first couple of posts, it hits them like: I never thought that this job would be tough, and like any other person, they mess things up. Messing things up in the beginning and making mistakes along the way is normal. So to help beginner bloggers get started accordingly, here are some of the most common lapses every new blogger should avoid. Mistake #1: Absence of your Niche What’s the core of your blog? Do you write about anything every day? Or are you stuck with an ordinary subject matter that you like? If you write an article about food one day and fashion on the next and then wonder why no one is commenting, chances are people don’t have a clue about what your real blog is. Don’t underestimate the power of focus because a clear and straightforward blog can more likely niche to develop a somewhat focus, valuable, efficient and passionate content. Mistake #2: Missing your real audiences Gathering hundreds (even thousands) of reader online can be astonishing, but when you don’t know who your real viewers are, the problem enters. When writing a new blog, why not create an article as if having a conversation with your friend or a family member instead of addressing it to a crowd? Being specific to your topics will instantly make your blog more engaging and personal making your blog site more interesting and gather more readers. Mistake #3: Quantity Vs. Quality One common mistake of every blogger is the constant publishing of new articles every single day. Well technically, posting a lot to your blog is not a bad thing but if your posts are crappy and invaluable why update regularly? Read also: Some Powerful Attributes That A Website Must Have In Its Content Instead of wasting the time of your readers with your irrelevant blogs, you can create a real and profound blog post that requires time to analyze, write, and edit to encourage reliability and credibility. Mistake #4: Negligence of editing Are you one of the writers who can write flawless posts in a flash of the eye? Oops! Stop right there and consider editing your blogs, because there’s no such thing as a perfect blog. But if you still want a close to perfection article, there are possible things that you can do: Make sure that every spelling is correct and always watch out for grammatical errors. Polish everything. In proper editing, you can cross out unnecessary words, replace jargons with simpler terms and split two long sentences with short information. Evaluate your post properly. Make sure that each paragraph is cohesive with the paragraph before it. Read also: Improve Your Local SEO Via Content Marketing Mistake #5: Never consider plagiarism as a choice Most of the rookies in the world of blogging do ‘copy and pasting’. And they think that they can escape it. You can’t. Plagiarism doesn’t work at all because readers and editors can easily tell whether an article was made initially or plagiarized. If you copy the thought of another blog, your voice will not sound like you, and it will destroy your reputation. Plus, if you will be caught stealing the ideas of others, your site will be punished by Google that will cause an adverse impact on your blog and will affect its growth. If you ever read through the list of mistakes and is now thinking that you committed them, just remember that every neophyte learns many things and those mistakes are common. Every blogger has probably done one or more mistakes in his or her lifetime. Takeaway With the mistakes listed above, you will have a clearer path to excel in your writing. The period of your writing doesn’t matter because everyone at some point makes common mistakes in their life. Instead of being discouraged by your mistakes, use it as a fuel to power up your experiences that will keep your blogging business continuously growing and healthy. Read also: Avoid These 5 Mistakes Before Starting An SEO

Answering The Most Asked: Is McDonald’s Open On Christmas?

Everybody celebrates Christmas in a different way. Some may prepare a large roast dinner, prepare a festive side dish to go with a special dinner, or they may even order takeout. While some families may choose not to stress over preparing a big Christmas meal, others who are working or out and about during the holiday season will be searching for something to eat. A burger and fries will be on some of their minds when it comes to fast food. After eating a big Christmas meal, some of you may simply be craving a sweet treat, like a McFlurry or late-night ice cream. On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, a lot of restaurants will be closed, but a lot of McDonald's restaurants will be open on Christmas Day. Since McDonald's is a franchise and 93% of its restaurants are run by independent business owners, some diners won't be open, according to the company website. As a result, McDonald's opening hours vary by location, with each business owner setting their own hours. The fast-food chain advises hungry customers to use their restaurant locator or give them a call in advance to find out the exact hours for their location in order to avoid any disappointment. McDonald's Menu Image Source During the Christmas season, McDonald's provides a plethora of festive treats, and every McDelivery order earns customers points towards MyMcDonald's Rewards. The Golden Arches will be serving up a Smoky BLT Quarter Pounder and a Smoky BLT Double Quarter Pounder with cheese for a short period of time. For those on a tight budget, the $1, $2, and $3 menu will also be offered, featuring time-honored favorites like the McChicken, Sausage McGriddles, and the McDouble. During Christmas, McDonald's restaurants in Canada will be serving a few new menu items for a short period of time, such as the Carolina BBQ Quarter Pounder and the New Oreo Fudge McFlurry. Other fast-food chains that are anticipated to be mostly open on Christmas Day include Waffle House, Domino's, and Burger King. On Christmas Day, Subway is anticipated to be mostly closed so that employees can spend time with their families and loved ones. Along with Golden Corral, Red Lobster, Ruth's Chris Steak House, and Village Inn, a large number of Applebee's locations are also intended to be open. It's advisable to call your local location in advance to find out their opening hours on federal holidays, just like you should with any restaurant or store. Is McDonald's Open On Christmas? According to a company representative, not all McDonald's locations will be open on Christmas Eve in 2023, but the majority will. As you can see from the company website, 93% of McDonald's restaurants are run by independent business owners. The restaurants are franchises. This implies that each store owner sets their own hours, so while your neighborhood branch may be open, it's not guaranteed. For information on opening and closing times, the store advises calling ahead or using their restaurant locator. (Alternatively, since many convenience stores will be open during regular business hours on Christmas, you could pick up something from any of the grocery stores open on that day!) McDonald's Christmas Hours Generally open all year round, McDonald's sees a higher volume of business on festive days due to the fact that it receives more guests than usual on these days. Thus, it is open on designated days, but Do they open at McDonald's on Christmas Day? Not at all. Christmas Day is a big holiday, so the fast-food restaurant chain will be closed on that day. To give its employees time to spend with their families on Christmas Day, it stays closed. Regarding McDonald's Christmas Hours, the fast-food restaurant chain will close early on Christmas Eve. The hours of closure may fall between 8 and 11 p.m. The franchise owner has the sole authority to determine the business hours. Thus, before you go there for some hardcore snacks, you can give the local franchise a call to confirm the times. You can visit the 24-hour McDonald's if you really want a treat because it is open on Christmas Eve. Regarding McDonald's Christmas Hours, the fast-food restaurant chain will close early on Christmas Eve. The hours of closure may fall between 8 and 11 p.m. The franchise owner has the sole authority to determine the business hours. Thus, before you go there for some hardcore snacks, you can give the local franchise a call to confirm the times. You can visit the 24-hour McDonald's if you really want a treat because it is open on Christmas Eve. There are certain McDonald's locations that are only accessible via the official website and the McDonald's app that will be open on Christmas Day. From there, you can also locate McDonald's Christmas Day Hours. Find the McDonald's location nearest you with the aid of the store locator. From there, you can also easily obtain information about the festive menu. McDonald's Festive Menu Here are some special numbers added to the McDonald's menu for the festive occasion. Christmas Share Box Image Source The Christmas Sharebox is a great way to share food during the holidays. It includes four standard dips, four select dips, and a minimum of 20 Chicken McNuggets and 10 Chicken Selects. The combo is priced at more than $16.41 and will only be offered while supplies last. Even though the Sharebox can accommodate up to four people, it's acceptable to use it alone if that's your preference. Chicken Big Mac Image Source In the upcoming weeks, the chain will launch new specials and promotions in addition to the new holiday offerings. Fans can currently get some of the most popular McDonald's dishes, like the Big Mac, for as little as $1.24 with the Christmas offer. You can redeem the offer from the chain's website or the app's offer section. This is a limited-time offer. Galaxy Chocolate Flurry Image Source Swirled ice cream and Galaxy Chocolate Stars with Galaxy Chocolate sauce combine to create a festive take on a classic dessert: the Galaxy Chocolate McFlurry. You can get it for more than $1.63 for a small serving, or more than $2.18 for a regular serving. There is a caramel sauce option for the new Galaxy McFlurry. Wrapping Up if you are craving McDonald's on Christmas just check your location with the official McDonald's website. This will help clear all your doubts and you can peacefully enjoy the burgers and fries. Did you look up Google saying "is McDonald's open on Christmas?" Then we hope this article helped. If you have thoughts to share or questions to ask about, please leave a comment below. We would love to hear from you. Learn More About: 5 Reasons Why You Need To Throw An Office Christmas Party Walmart Pharmacy Hours: What Time Does Walmart Pharmacy Close And Open? Is Walmart Open On Christmas? Get To Know What Is Open And What Is Open And What Is Not

The 10 WordPress Plugins Every Sucessful Blogger Uses