When it comes to online content publishing, WordPress powers nearly one-third of the websites you and your customers visit each day. With its easy-to-understand user interface, extensive media and user management options, and flexibility to incorporate numerous themes, plugins, and custom applications, WordPress leads the field of content-management systems.
The plugin functionality within WordPress allows you to easily add features that enhance your website’s usability and productivity, such as calendars, appointment requests, contact forms, photo galleries, social media connectivity, spam safeguards, and even search engine optimization tools. WordPress publishes a comprehensive directory of free and paid plugins that can help supercharge your website.
Here we’ll share a few of the aJuxt team’s favorite WordPress plugins:
1) Wordfence Security has earned its place on the top of the list of valuable WordPress plugins because there are few things more important to your online presence than the protection of your customers’ personal and financial data. Wordfence is currently rated as the most downloaded WordPress security plugin—and for good reason! With over 22 million downloads, Wordfence’s web application firewall protects your website from malicious access by blocking attackers and identifying malicious code and traffic. Wordfence scans your website’s files, themes, and plugins for over 44,000 malware variants and security holes and instantly reports and blocks offending content. The plugin’s primary functionality is free, with paid add-ons available for purchase from the plugin developer.
2) Google Analytics, by the folks behind social media sharing plugin ShareThis, provides an easy way to add Google Analytics tracking codes to your WordPress-powered website. This simple plugin allows you to easily link Google Analytics accounts to your websites and provides access to reporting tools directly from the WordPress dashboard. The Google Analytics plugin makes it easy to monitor traffic sources, trending content, visitor trends, and mobile browsing reports. All the plugin’s core features are available for free.
3) Search engines love WordPress and the All in One SEO Pack plugin helps you get the most out of search engine optimization (SEO) by making sure your customers can find your website in search results. The All in One SEO Pack is a robust solution that’s easy for beginners and includes features that are suitable for advanced users. The plugin automatically informs search engines like Google and Bing that your website has been updated. Additionally, the plugin provides site map creation tools and is compatible with many other plugins. The plugin’s primary functionality is free, with paid add-ons available for purchase from the plugin developer.
4) If you’re responsible for managing more than one WordPress website, InfiniteWP is a plugin that you simply can’t live without. InfiniteWP is a developer’s dream and makes it incredibly easy to update plugins and monitor content updates for multiple WordPress websites, all from one easy-to-use, web-based dashboard. The basic plugin functionality is free, but requires installation on a web server. If you need help with installation, contact us and we’ll be happy to help! Paid add-ons are available that further expand InfiniteWP’s functionality.
As more businesses and organizations increasingly turn to WordPress to provide customized web presence solutions, developers are creating and maintaining a growing number of plugins that can help maximize the functionality of your website. Visit the WordPress plugin directory to explore plugin options that meet your needs. If you need help assembling a rockstar website please feel free to reach out to our Troupe!
Written by Andy Janecek || Web Presence Consultant