Whether your goal is to optimize for SEO and social, keep your site updated against current security threats, automation (of everything), or protect yourself against gnarly updates that can completely mess up your plugins and site layout, this post was created just for you.
1. Yoast SEO
This plugin package is in use on all of my sites. It should come as no surprise that Previso Media and Ivan’s other sites also use this plugin. There’s really no good reason not to either. The plugin makes it super-easy to add titles and descriptions to your articles, publish sitemaps effortlessly, complete keyword analysis on the fly, and much more. It even has a handy “SEO” link at the top of the WordPress dashboard that allows you to link out to popular keyword research tools like Adwords, Insights and SEO Book.
2. Dropbox Backup and Restore
I like this backup plugin because it includes easy Dropbox integration. You can also store your backup files locally via FTP on your PC or server. The benefit of course, is that you can backup to the cloud in addition to your physical storage. Combine this with regular backups by your host and it’s pretty hard (yet not entirely impossible) to lose your site data due to a server crash, hackers, or a misbegotten update from WordPress. This tool’s also great for creating the files needed to migrate from one host to another.
3. W3 Total Cache
A plain and simple caching plugin that’s been used by millions all over for years now. It allows for easy browser cashing and compression of all your big onsite HTML, CSS, and Javascript files. All this equals faster load times and reduced bandwidth usage on your sites. Most hosts, particularly the cheap shared variety, install this plugin automatically (whether you want it or not) when you sign up. There’s no reason not to trust this plugin; even Matt Cutts uses it on his blog, along with countless other big names like AT&T, Mashable and John Chow’s infamously traffic-heavy MMO blog for affiliates.
4. Contact Form 7
This is my favorite contact form plugin for WordPress. Of course, being free makes it an instant hit with all the million-plus users, but it’s also easy. It’s easy to customize your forms using Contact Form 7 and it works quite flawlessly with most of the common submission filters like Ajax, CAPTCHA, Akismet spam and others. There’s also no “paid” version which means after downloading this tool, it either works for your needs or it doesn’t — no temptation to fork out extra $$$ for monthly subscriptions or add-ons.
5. Soliloquy Lite
Whether you agree or not, sliders are awesome for keeping visitors on the page and engaged. Most all themes I’ve seen out there with pre-installed sliders are the paid version. Now, don’t get me wrong, if you find value you should certainly donate to the developer. However, this post is geared toward thrifty newbie webpreneurs who don’t have the cash to spend on themes and add-ons. Soliloquy Lite allows you to create multiple sliders with limitless images (as much as your hosting package will allow, in fact!) Videos, widgets and HTML files can be added to the sliders too, but you need to upgrade for that function. Just be careful with this one, the easy WYSIWYG dashboard is free, but the bandwidth used on your host is not.
6. Floating Social Bar
Anyone who knows me will do an about-face when they read this recommendation. Largely because of what the “Floating” in the name implies — ie., invasive images following visitors as they read through the content on the page. Thankfully, there’s an option that allows you to place one or multiple social media widgets statically wherever you wish on the page. If you like the floating thing, go for it. But I like this plugin because of it’s simplicity on the page. It doesn’t bloat and overshadow the content with a million icons for social media platforms that most of us have never even heard of. It covers all the major networks and a few up-and-comers and a link to your RSS feed. Simply connect your accounts to the appropriate icon, deselect those you don’t want displayed and voila — easy peezy. No fuss, no muss, no confusion.
Have any of your own favorites to share?
Throw a link down in the comments for everyone to benefit from. Please keep your recommendations limited to free plugins or at least, the free version of useful paid WordPress plugins.
