Paul Myrick

WordPress Plugins – 10 Favorites – February 2016 Edition

by | Plugins, Web Development, Website Functionality, WordPress

plugin - 1 (1)These WordPress plugins are installed on most all of the sites I currently manage – they’re helpful and behave nicely.  To reduce any possibility of site slow down and code bloat, some plugins are deactivated unless I need to use them.  I’ve noted the plugins that are only activated on an as-needed basis.  Once the task is complete, they go back to deactivated status.

10 Favorite WordPress Plugins

  1. All In One SEO Pack by Michael Torbert – Because every website needs search engine optimization.
  2. Better WordPress Minify – by Khang Minh – Auto-magically minify CSS and Javascript files to speed up response time. Makes Google PageSpeed Insights happy.
  3. Contact Form 7 by Takayuki Miyoshi – A very easy to use and flexible contact form plugin.  Also has the capability to integrate with Google reCAPTCHA (spam prevention) and Flamingo, which will automatically save contact page messages just in case they get lost in an email black hole.
  4. Google AdSense by Google – Automatic ad integration with your WordPress site.
  5. iThemes Security by iThemes -Helps protect your WordPress website from hackers and other nasties lurking about on the internet.
  6. Jetpack by WordPress.com – So much functionality in one great plugin.  Especially love the site stats and uptime monitoring functions.
  7. Regenerate Thumbnails by Alex Mills (Viper007Bond) – If the images sizes under media settings are changed, this plugin will regenerate the smaller thumbnail, medium and large size images.  Deactivated when not in use.
  8. WP Smush by WPMU DEV – Can significantly reduce the size of uploaded images by getting rid of unnecessary data in the media files.  Bulk processing option available.  Makes Google PageSpeed Insights happy.  Deactivated when not in use.
  9. UpdraftPlus Backup/Restore by UpdraftPlus.com, David Anderson – Don’t be silly – make backups – now!
  10. WP Super Cache by Automattic – This plugin by the developers of WordPress will make your site respond to users much faster.  A necessity really, and another plugin that tends to make Google PageSpeed Insights happy.