9 Essential WordPress Plugins
For our first official blog post, we thought we would list what we consider the 9 most essential WordPress plugins. We use these plugins a lot for ourselves as well as each client.
However, first, we need to introduce WordPress quickly. Wordpress is a content management system (CMS) that allows you as the owner of the site to add, edit and delete the content of your website. You can add pages, posts, and pictures as well as monitor trackbacks and comments. As a side note, TM Design uses WordPress for most of our clients’ websites, so if you are looking for someone to help you out with WordPress, we would be happy to answer your questions and even design and develop your WordPress site.
WordPress plugins are installed in order to add usability functions to the site (ie. Contact Form, Photo Gallery, SEO, etc.). There are tonnes of plugins on the market, however we caution you to download the plugins from the WordPress.org directory in order to avoid corrupted files. So let’s get started (finally):
Akismet
Akismet is an essential plugin that blocks spam comments on your blog. You need a WordPress.com API Key to use the plugin (Sign up at WordPress.com to get an API Key), however it only takes a few minutes to install and configure!
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/akismet/
All in One SEO Pack
The All in One SEO Pack is a great plugin in order to create Meta tags to drastically increase their in-site search engine optimization. The All in One SEO Pack adds fields to each page and post where you can input the Meta Title, Description and Keywords. This plugin is highly recommended and quite easy to use.
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/all-in-one-seo-pack/
Contact Form 7
There are many contact form plugins on the market for WordPress, however we use this plugin for our websites. As you can see at http://www.designtm.ca/contact-us/ the plugin creates an organized, clean looking form. In the back end, the plugin adds a new menu item allowing you to easily edit the forms fields. The back end will provide a simple piece of code that you can insert into the contact page html tab.
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/contact-form-7/
Google XML Sitemaps
The Google XML Sitemaps generates a XML sitemap for your site that Google will recognize. Although the back end plugin configuration is a bit more challenging for the average user, it won’t take long to create your sitemap.
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/google-sitemap-generator/
Maintenance Mode
This plugin is quite useful for the developers out there. Maintenance mode, when enabled through the back end allows a landing page for your site visitors letting them know that the site is currently under construction and will be back up in a few minutes, however for the developer logged in through the back end the site will appear as live. From the back end, the Maintenance Mode landing page content is easy to edit.
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/maintenance-mode/
Social Media Page
The Social Media Page plugin incorporates your social media networks onto a page or widget. The back end provides an exceptionally long list of social networks with fields for your username. Once enabled, the plugin posts the social networks that you input a username for and adds a simple link. Your viewers can then click to your Facebook, Twitter, etc. page.
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/social-media-page/
Twitter Widget Pro
This plugin allows you to post a widget on your pages giving people your latest twitter updates (you can set the number listed as well) with linked @ and # symbols integrated. The plugin can even insert your profile picture! With an amazing amount of options, this Twitter plugin is quite impressive!
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/twitter-widget-pro/
WordPress Google Analytics Reports
This plugin brings your Google Analytics reports straight to your WordPress back end dashboard. Input your Google Analytics username and password and select your Google Analytics account to set up. Detailed charts will show you your site traffic (visitors, pageviews and new visitors), your global audience, keywords, etc.
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-analytics/
WordPress Popup Scheduler
This plugin may only be relevant to a few sites, however, we use the plugin to introduce new TM Design visitors to the site. From the back end, you can easily edit what will show up on your popup, when the popup will occur (first time visit, after certain number of visits), on which page, etc. You can control how the popup appears (fade in, etc.) and where it appears on the screen (top left, center, etc.).
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-popup-scheduler/
So, that is a quick listing of what TM Design considers essential wordpress plugins. We would love to hear your comments or questions! All of the above plugins can be seen in action on the TM Design site.
Thanks for reading. Feel free to comment!
- TM Design “Professional, Affordable, Reliable”
Can’t believe I missed Twitter Widget Pro, excellent plugin. Thank you.