best wordpress plugins 1

Best WordPress Plugins – 10 Must-Haves [Most Are Free]

ByFixMyPractice

You cannot build a great, functional website on WordPress without a plugin. Thus, plugins are essential in WordPress web design and development. There are over 48,000 of them on the WordPress directory. Consequently, finding the best WordPress plugins is often a pain in the neck.

WordPress plugins are applications that allow you to incorporate new functions or features to your website. Every plugin has a unique role in a website. For example, while some plugins can help improve the look and feel of your website, some can help you handle day-to-day transactions on your business.

In this article, we discuss the 10 best WordPress plugins. We also highlight some common mistakes many WordPress site developers make with plugins and how to avoid these.

The 10 best WordPress plugins that have made our list are:2

best wordpress plugins 2
  1. iThemes Security
  2. Really Simple SSL
  3. UpdraftPlus
  4. Yoast SEO
  5. nTopic by Virante
  6. Thrive Leads
  7. Smush
  8. WP Fastest Cache
  9. Blog2Social
  10. Facebook Pixel Plugin

We use every one of the above plugins in every WordPress website that we design.

By the way, if you would like to learn how we can help you double or even triple your business revenue for free, go to: FixMyPractice.co.uk/IncreaseBusinessRevenue

Now, let’s dive right in for some details.

Best WordPress Plugins for Security

In a world where criminals hackers run amock, security should be the number one of every web designer/developer. It is undoubtedly our top priority.

Although WordPress websites are one of the easiest to set up and run, they are also the most targeted by hackers. If hackers attack your site, it can significantly affect your business. First, you have to go through the stress of recovering your website. Then, you have to work even harder to regain the trust of your clients.

This is why we’ve identified and tested many security plugins before coming up with a list of top three plugins for website security.

These plugins will help you have a great level of security for your website:

  • iThemes Security
  • Really Simple SSL
  • UpdraftPlus

iThemes Security

One of the best WordPress plugins is iThemes Security. As the name suggests, it allows you to protect your website from hackers and other security threats. This plugin comes in both free and paid versions. However, even the free version is fantastic and is sufficient for most users.

Like most WordPress plugins, you don’t need special technical skills to use it on your site. It is user-friendly and easy to use.

iThemes Security is one of the best WordPress security plugins for a reason. Its major features are 404 detection, password enforcement, and brute force protection. It also detects file change, enforces strong passwords, and backs up database. Plus, it sends you email notifications of any suspicious activities on your site.

Really Simple SSL

While we are still talking about security, let’s discuss Really Simple SSL.

After recent Google updates, websites that run on an insecure platform (i.e. HTTP, instead of HTTPS) tend to be ranked lower. You might have seen the phrase “Not Secure” on your browser when visiting some sites. This is where Really Simple SSL helps.

It is a WordPress plugin that detects your website settings and configures it to run over https. To be clear, this plugin does not provide with an SSL certificate. It simplifies how you implement the certificate on your website.

To run your website on HTTPS using the plugin, you only need three simple steps. First, you need to get an SSL Certificate, install and activate the plugin, then, enable SSL with one click. You’ll then see HTTPS when you visit or a padlock sign, indicating a secure website.

We have selected Really Simple SSL as one of the best WordPress plugins for its role in keeping your website and your users’ info safe. This plugin fixes all insecure content by replacing all http:// URLs with https://, except for other domains and hyperlinks.

The plugin redirects all incoming requests to https whether users type the secure format or not. It also changes the site URL and home URL to https. It handles most issues that your WordPress site has with SSL.

Really Simple SSL is available in a premium package with support, but the free version can serve most users’ needs.

UpDraftPlus

WordPress websites are often vulnerable to security errors, bad plugins, server crashes, theme updates, and the likes. As a result, it is important to backup your website just in case. When things go wrong, as they often do, UpdraftPlus comes to the rescue.

This plugin is one of the best WordPress plugins for security by automatically backing up your website in case you need to restore it to a previous date. It has rightfully earned the trust of users across the globe, with over 2 million active installations.   

Furthermore, UpdraftPlus provides more cloud back up options than any other plugins. The free version backs up into the cloud directly to Google Drive, Dropbox, UpdraftVault, Rackspace Cloud, and email. On the other hand, the paid version backs up to Google Cloud, Microsoft OneDrive, and Microsoft Azure, among others.

UpdraftPlus is convenient and easy to use. It allows you to set automatic backup schedules. It is faster than other plugins and uses up fewer server resources. Its backup and restore functions have been tested and trusted in over a million sites.

It is one of the best WordPress plugins that you must have in 2020 and beyond.

Best WordPress Plugins for SEO & Content Writing

Content is the blood of every website. However, in a world where you need to write for two types of audiences (humans and search engine bots), it is hard to balance content to satisfy both types of audiences.

Yoast SEO and nTopic by Virante help you create great content that strikes this delicate balance easily and perfectly. They make your content stand out in the eyes of both humans and bots.

Learn how to improve your Google ranking and get more traffic to your business.

Yoast SEO

By far, Yoast SEO is the best WordPress plugin for search engine optimisation (SEO). It has helped millions of WordPress users worldwide rank higher on search engines, such as Google.

Any website owner knows how important SEO is in search engine ranking and getting free traffic. Thus, a well-optimised website makes your business more visible online and increases your KLT factor. Yoast SEO helps you achieve that.

Yoast SEO plugin automatically sets canonical URLs to avoid duplicate content, helping you sort out of the common SEO mistakes made by many WordPress users. It also takes full control over your site’s breadcrumbs.

Besides, Yoast SEO offers title and meta description templating for better branding. It also provides consistent snippets in the search results.

Another important factor in SEO is having the correct sitemap to allow search engines to understand your website better. This plugin creates the most advanced XML sitemap functionality. Its state-of-the-art Schema implementation helps to increase the odds in your favour.

One of the most popular features of Yoast SEO is how it provides immediate feedback on your page or blog post. As you write, it scores your content’s SEO and readability scores and highlights areas that need more attention. This way, you can adjust the content for maximum impact. Priceless!

The free version works perfectly, but the premium version provides support. It also gives users the ability to expand Yoast SEO with WooCommerce SEO, News SEO, Local SEO, and Video SEO extensions.

If you would like to learn how you can get more visitors to your website, go to FixMyPractice.co.uk/IncreaseBusinessRevenue

nTopic by Virante

Again, after a major Google algorithm change, relevance has become one of the most critical SEO factors. An irrelevant content, no matter how good, may not rank well for a keyword. But, how do you know your content is relevant to your targeted keyword? This is where nTopic by Virante comes in.

Admitted, nTopic is not a popularly know plugin, and we often wonder why given its essential role in SEO. There’s hardly any other plugin that does what nTopic does.

It analyses your content for relevance to your keyword. It then gives you a percentage score. You want to score as high as possible. Any content with a score below 95% should be improved. The good news is that the plugin also suggests words that you can add to your content to improve its relevance.

Thus, it increases content relevance and helps you look good in the eyes of Google, increasing free organic traffic search. It is our best WordPress Plugin for improving content relevance.

The free version is perfect for most users. For $10/month, the paid version gives you keyword recommendations as well.

Best WordPress Lead Generation Plugin

An email list is perhaps the most critical asset for any business online. You’ve probably heard the phrase, “The money is in the list”. We have selected Thrive Leads as our best lead generation plugin, and here is why.

Thrive Leads

Thrive Lead helps you create long-lasting relationships with your website visitors. It allows you to create stunning opt-in forms and build your email list. You can use this plugin to create highly-targeted campaigns to drive conversions.

What we love the most about Thrive Leads is its flexibility. You can create opt-in forms from scratch or simply use one of its many templates and display on any part of your WordPress site. It provides lots of form style options, including Slide-in Forms, Scroll Mat, In-line Forms, Pop-up Lightbox and Opt-in Widget.

However, the real reason Thrive Leads is our best WordPress plugin for lead generation is its conversion focus. It allows you to use its powerful A/B testing engine with advanced targeting options. You can even set it to conduct an A/B test and then select the best choice and run with it. You don’t have to lift a finger.

Also, this plugin provides advanced trigger options, detailed reports and analytics. It integrates seamlessly with most email marketing services, such as Active Campaign, Aweber, MailChimp, etc.

The only drawback for Thrive Leads is that it has no free version, but it is only $99 for five installations. Nonetheless, it is our best plugin for lead generation.

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Best WordPress Plugins for Improving Site Speed

The speed of your website is a recognised Google ranking factor. The faster your site, the higher it is likely to rank on Google. Here two plugins that help achieve just that.

Smush

Images are an essential part of any good-looking website. The problem is, images slow website speed. Smush essentially compresses images on your website for faster loading. Critically, it does this, without reducing the quality of the images.

Thus, this award-winning image optimiser is no doubt of the best WordPress plugins you must have now.

It is compatible with most WordPress themes, builders and media library plugins.

Furthermore, Smush can optimise up to 50 images with one click. It can detect incorrect size images, identifying images that are slowing down your site. Also, it processes files in all formats – PNG, JPEG, and GIF.

Interestingly, you can use the free version without monthly limits. This means that you can optimise all images up to 5MB without extra charges.

WP Fastest Cache

No matter what we do, we often need to use heavy stuff on our website for functionality or aesthetics. This slows the site down. One way to get around this problem is to use caching. Caching means storing certain assets of your website on a user’s device when they first visit for easy access in the future.

WP Fastest Cache is one of the best WordPress plugins for this. Thus, it improves website speed.

With over a million downloads, WP Fastest Cache is one of the favourite caching plugins amongst WordPress users. The free version offers SSL and CDN support and creates a cache for all the sites automatically.

It is simple and easy to use. For instance, it deletes all cached files when a post or page is published. It also blocks cache for specific pages or posts with ShortCode so users can rerun website functions without problems.

The free version works great. The premium version disables emojis, combines CSS, and enables Gzip compression. This version also reduces the size of pages and CSS files and decreases page load times for repeat visitors.

Best Social Media Plugins

Today, you can’t run anything well online without integrating social media somehow. Thus, integrating your website with social media accounts is a must. There are plenty of plugins to achieve various tasks with social media, but we’ve focused on two here.

By the way, if you would like to learn how we can help you get more social media reach and engagement for free, go to: FixMyPractice.co.uk/IncreaseBusinessRevenue

Blog2Social

Sharing content on social media should be every website owner’s top priority. But, this can be a tedious and time-consuming process.

Blog2Social is a WordPress plugin used for scheduling and auto-posting on social media. It also allows you to cross-promote and automatically share your posts on social media platforms like, Facebook, Google My Business, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest and many others.

The free version allows you to repost all posts and save your social media posts as a draft. With this version, you can also share your posts and pages on 14 different platforms of your choice. You can also view all your social media posts in one place. Additionally, the free version of Blog2Social allows you to edit meta tag information of your pages and blog posts.

On the other hand, the premium version gives you the ease of scheduling social media posts from your blog or website. With this version, you can organise your social media calendar, and switch your social media marketing to auto-pilot. It also allows you to cross-post, cross-promote, and curate content.

It is one of our best WordPress plugins for the convenience it provides.

Facebook Pixel Plugin

On average, people interact with you about seven times before they buy anything from you. It is the usual number of interactions you need to get them to “know, like and trust” you. The problem is that most of your visitors will never return to your website.

So how do you reach them seven times? This is becoming an even bigger problem as more and more people don’t like sharing their email address with a stranger online for fear of spam.

Facebook developed pixels (a shortcode) to enable them to identify people when they visit a website. As a website owner, you create a pixel on Facebook and install it on your website. When a visitor visits your website and leaves, Facebook now knows they visited your website. Even though Facebook will not give you the identity of people who visited, you can use the data to target them with ads.

Facebook Pixel is perhaps the best WordPress plugin to help you install a Facebook Pixel on your site. It helps you to target, enhance, and measure your Facebook ad campaigns.

Even if our client has no plans of using Facebook ads in your business, we advise creating a Facebook pixel and using this plugin on every site we create. As time passes, the pixel gets more data or “seasoned”. This could be a game-changer for your business.

Need more help with your social media?

Common Mistakes to Avoid with WordPress Plugins

The correct use of WordPress plugins could be tricky. Here are some of the most common mistakes WordPress users make and how to avoid them.

Not installing the required type of plugins

No matter the purpose of your website, certain plugins are essential for its survival. You must have a plugin that covers each of the following:

  • Security
  • Back up
  • SEO
  • Speed enhancement

It doesn’t matter if you go with our choices or not. What does matter, however, is that you have the above areas covered adequately. Then, you can install whatever else tickles your pickle.

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Installing too many plugins

There are almost 50,000 WordPress plugins. This could be tempting for some users. They install and install all sorts of plugins with no clear purpose. The results? Well, they end up with a slow website and wonder how on earth did that happen.

Besides, installing too many plugins on your site could lead to conflicts, where the performance of a particular plugin restricts another plugin.

To avoid this problem, before installing any plugin on your site, ask yourself if you really need this plugin. Less is best in this case.

Also, treat every plugin as a security vulnerability. Only install the plugins you actually need.

Installing untested or outdated plugins

Untested and outdated plugins could cause conflict with other plugins or worse, conflict with the WordPress platform itself, causing crashes.

Stick with the best WordPress plugins and avoid plugins with low download counts.

Furthermore, read the statistics and information about the plugin and check when it was last updated. You may also want to check if the plugin is compatible with your WordPress theme and the latest version of WordPress.

Not deactivating and deleting unused plugins

Many users simply leave unused plugins on their site, unnecessarily slowing the website down.

Whenever you don’t need a plugin any longer, deactivate and delete it. You can always re-install if you ever need it again.

Ignoring updates

Another common mistake to avoid with WordPress plugins is never to ignore updates. Running your site on outdated plugins makes it susceptible to hackers and security threats.

If you are scared of losing any data on your site, create a backup before performing any update. The UpdraftPlus plugin discussed above could come in handy here.

Be proactive; update your plugins regularly on a schedule, say weekly. You can select all plugins with updates and update them with a single click of the mouse. How convenient.

To summarise

For improved efficiency and performance of your WordPress site, it is essential to install plugins. However, avoid the common mistakes many users make.

Your collection of plugins may not be the same as ours, but you should ensure that you at least cover security, back up, SEO and speed enhancement.

The 10 best WordPress plugins in our list are iThemes Security, Really Simple SSL, Updraft Plus, Yoast SEO and nTopic by Virante. Others are Thrive Leads, Smush, WP Fastest Cache, Blog2Social  and Facebook Pixel Plugin.