A plugin is a tool (small program) used to extend the functionality of your WordPress website or add fun parts to it.

Like WordPress, plugins are open source and maintained by the WordPress community. Open source programs are freely available and may be redistributed and modified.

There are thousands of free plugins available, as well as paid options.

What can you do with plugins?

With plugins you can for example:

  • Display a pretty photo gallery
  • Display YouTube videos
  • Display emojis 😉
  • Secure your site from spammers or hackers
  • Add ecommerce capability so you can sell your products

Which basic plugins should you install?

Plugin Type Function Example(s)
Antispam Blocks spam comments Antispam for all fields
Back up Emails or downloads a backup of your site’s pages & posts WP (WordPress) Database Backup
Security Protects your site from hackers Wordfence Security, Anti-Malware Security and Brute-Force Firewall
Sitemaps Helps Google index your site properly Google XML Sitemaps
Analytics Shows traffic flow to your site Slimstat Analytics, Google Analytics for WordPress by MonsterInsights
Cache Speeds up your site by caching (save a version of) your pages and posts W3 Total Cache
SEO Uses keywords people use in search engines to find what your site offers and also helps Google to find relevant info Yoast SEO
Revision control Controls page and post versions of your site that are saved to help speed up your site WP Revisions Control
Photo gallery Displays your beautiful photos in a gallery WordPress Gallery Plugin
Smush it Reduces the size of photos added to your site and also helps to speed up load time of your site Smush Image Compression and Optimization
Video plugin Easily shows off videos from YouTube or Vimeo by pasting the link Smart Youtube PRO

Want to know more?

If you want to know more about plugins like how they can improve your website, don’t hesitate to contact us. We’ll be happy to help you!

 

What is a Plugin?
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