Changry

Every new WordPress blog is in need of not only posts and readers, but also plugins and modifications. A huge array of plugins that add to the functionality and enhance performance are already out there, but here’s a list to help sort the best from the mediocre.

1. Backup

Without a doubt, backing up is one of the most crucial parts of website maintenance. Realistically, however, who really religiously backups daily – at least manually. This plugin not only handles backups automatically (by specified intervals: daily, weekly, monthly), but also allows for easy and automatic uploads to Google Drive. Files are compressed in a zip so you shouldn’t have to worry about taking up too much space.

2. Bulletproof Security

There’s too much to this plugin to even list, so just take a look at the official plugin page for details. However, what this essentially does is lock down your site via .htaccess, as well as admin panel usage restrictions to ensure control over access to essential parts of your blog.

3. CSS and Script Integration

Minimizing the number of requests a browser makes does wonders to cutting down the load time. This plugin allows you to either combine all the CSS into one file, Javascript into one file, or both – unobtrusively and automatically.

4. WP Smush.it

Another key to cutting down the load time? Cut down the page size. Smush.it, maintained by Yahoo, losslessly compresses all new images uploaded via WordPress’s media uploader, as well as a ‘bulk compress’ function that handles all images already existing on your blog. I can personally attest to how useful this plugin is – reducing files from a couple MBs to a few hundred KBs and less.

5. W3 Total Cache

Cutting down page size and minimizing requests? What more can you do? Cache. Cache, cache, cache. Use W3 to set up and tweak the settings for you, leaving your users with fast loading speeds on their subsequent page loads. What’s great about this plugin is that it not only allows you to specify how long files remain valid, but also allow for a quick cache clear with a click of a button.

6. Permalink Finder

This one is one that will eliminate, for the most part, 404 errors. Suppose the link to your post is www.blog.com/amazing-post-that-is-original, with this plugin, www.blog.com/amazing-pot-thsts-original will also take you to the original post. This translates into lower bounce rate, and more readers.

7. WordPress SEO (Yoast)

Want to click a button and have your site reach number one on Google? Well, keep dreaming, because even with this plugin, you still need to do keyword research and carefully write out your articles. What you don’t have to worry about, however, is the tedious meta data placement, Open Graph tag setup, XML sitemaps, and all the other cumbersome details. This really is an all-in-one SEO plugin that also provides an in-depth article analysis to check your posts for proper SEO practices.

8. Social Metrics

This is actually a really simple plugin – it creates a page in your admin panel that lists all the posts currently on your blog, as well as the corresponding social network widgets and buttons next to each one. The little tickers for each widget then show you the number of likes, shares, or tweets you have on each network, all from the one little page in your admin panel. Convenient, huh?

Conclusion

So, what else is there? Are you done? By no means. Here are few more for your consideration: Leenk.me, Better Related Posts, and Custom Post Type UI. Also keep in mind to not overdose on plugins – too much can actually have an adverse effect on your load time.

Any more? Leave a comment below.

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