The 10 WordPress Plugins Every Sucessful Blogger Uses

Published on: 28 January 2017 Last Updated on: 04 September 2024

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.

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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Bloggers, Beware! Blogging Mistakes You Should Avoid

Blogging as a career and source of income is more than just taking pictures, eating good food and writing articles. When blogging turned into a business, there are a lot of steps that bloggers need to make sure to attain success. In other words, upgrading a blog into a business is more complex than what people think. However, it can also be rewarding and fun at the same time. To ensure success in blogging, listed here are some of the blogging mistakes that every blogger should avoid. As they say, prevention is better than cure. Read also: Doing It The Right Way: Common Mistakes Every New Blogger Commits Not using whitespace or header When a reader first visits a blog and sees a wall of pure text, they’ll immediately close the tab without looking back. No matter how amazing the ideas are, the visual presentation makes up half of the battle. Bloggers or writers should learn to break their paragraphs to avoid chunky-looking parts. Use subheadings to give the readers eyes a breather and anchor points. If possible, cut down to 3-5 sentences each paragraph. Not knowing the audience Among the common mistakes that bloggers need to avoid, being clueless about their target audience is on the top of the list. It is sometimes unavoidable that bloggers will write and create content depending on their mood without even taking consideration of the readers. Lacking knowledge about the target audience can create complications in the future. Without considering the target audience interests, the content will be useless. Before starting on writing, create an image of the audience that the content is targeting. After making an image of the target audience, do some research on the things they want to read. Researching about the audience is the smartest technique a blogger can do. Avoid posting every day After considering that blogging is a career and part of the content marketing strategy, bloggers must be knowledgeable about search engines. Because of search engines, bloggers tend to publish a new blog entry every day just to improve ranking. However, posting on a daily basis can greatly affect the engagement level of the blog. And also it can be a disservice on SERPs (Search Engine Result Page). Keep in mind that the search engine value is a fresh, informative and relevant content. If the published articles don't give benefit to the target audience, then it’ll be a waste of effort. To ensure the quality of the articles, creating a schedule when to post articles is beneficial. It can give bloggers enough time to create a high-quality and well-researched article that can benefit its readers. To fully learn about SEO, some sites offer a crash course about SEO. Visit Website for more information. It usually tackles the effect of content to blogs. Also, it includes the importance of SEO in rankings. Read also: Avoid These 5 Mistakes Before Starting An SEO Stop trying to sell something in a blog post Blogs are tools to promote products, but not as a sales method. Current and future readers usually remain anonymous when reading an article. So they can just immediately leave an article in the middle reading if it gives them pressure or threats. Instead of selling products, use the blog to validate credibility, build authority and instill trust. If the readers find the contents and the blog reliable, then they can become the sales opportunity of business. Using Inappropriate Titles Headlines and titles are one of the most important things in a blog post. Titles and headings tell the readers a good deal of the content. Also, it helps in setting expectations to the readers. A title must be compelling and are creative to attract readers. However, certain headlines don't fit to what the content talks about. Sometimes, the title itself is not compelling enough to attract people to click and read the article. Bloggers should consider human elements before coming up with titles. Let the title and headline speak for the content itself. Make it as descriptive as possible to have an impact on potential readers. Uses a Generic Logo Bloggers don't need to invest all their cash in having a custom design to complete their blog. However, bloggers should consider a personalized logo. It is one of the first few things that new visitors look at when visiting a new blog. Usually, the logo speaks for the blog itself. Takeaway Listed above are the four basic and common mistakes that a blogger should avoid. Even if mistakes are inevitable, avoiding them can help in the success and growth of the blog. It may be a little mistake, but its impact can greatly affect the business and ruin the reputation of a blog.

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

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: i.kinja-img.com 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: dunked.com 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: assets.bwbx.io 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: pbs.twimg.com 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