The 10 WordPress Plugins Every Sucessful Blogger Uses

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28 January 2017

Blogging

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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!

Read also: 

  1. Top Torrent Sites For Games Download
  2. 4 WordPress Plugins To Make Your Blog More Powerful
  3. Best SEO Tools For Ranking The Website
  4. WordPress Developer: Job Profile And Key Responsibilities

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