How To Install Plugins & 12 Must Haves

When you log in to your WordPress site, do you ever wonder what you should be doing with your Plugins option at your left?

Well, if you haven’t used a plugin yet, I bet the first thing you do after reading this blog is going and installing all the plugins mentioned below.

But before installing any plugin, you need to know the meaning of it. As the word suggests, ‘Plug–in ‘ is to plug or instil something into something. Initially, it was spelled as a plug-in (with a hyphen) but now the word plugin is adapted all over.

On a broader scale, a plugin is add-on software that is installed on a program to add functionalities to the program or website. For example, if you want to watch a video on a website, you may need a plugin to play it because your browser may not have the tools it requires.

How to Install Plugins to your WordPress Sites?

You just got to follow 3 simple steps:

-Click on Plugins option to the left of your WordPress site > Add New

-Install the plugins that are suitable for the website’s requirement.

-Click on Activate.

WordPress offers around 40,000 plugins to choose from and drives you crazy on what you should be actually installing, isn’t it?

To make your work simpler, here’s a collection of must-have plugins that can help you make your site better.

Akismet

Akismet helps to filter out any spam comments on your blog. The pre-installed plugin automatically checks comments against the Akismet Web service.

Do not uninstall it. It’s a must-have plugin.

Google Analytics

Wouldn’t you like to see how many people visit your site every day? You’d be more than happy, right?

This plugin is thus, a must-have for your website. Google Analytics tracks your daily traffic and provides a statistical plus numerical view of your traffic.

This plugin can track visits, page views and bounce rate of your website.

Google XML Sitemaps

This must-have plugin automatically generates an XML sitemap for your site. Having an XML sitemap is important as it helps search engines to index your blog better.

With a sitemap, web crawlers can see your site and retrieve the results more efficiently.

Search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing will be notified every time you create a post.

Contact Form 7

This plugin allows you to create and manage multiple contact forms. There’s no need for extra coding with the Contact Form 7 plugin, as the form and mail contents can be easily customized through the settings.

Ultimate branding

Suppose you’re running a WordPress site and a business at the same time then looking professional is so important and just as crucial as your products and content.

That’s why being able to turn WordPress into a white labeling machine is a great idea.

You can replace the WordPress logo of your own, customize the admin bar and add your own company name to achieve consistent branding across your site by installing this plugin to your WordPress site.

You can customize your site as per your wish and plus, you don’t have to touch any code.

It’s easy to set up and use and it works across your entire Multisite network or your single install of WordPress.

Ultimate Branding is the only branding plugin you need to turn a WordPress site into your company’s site.

Appointments+

If your business demands you to be well organized, this plugin is good for you. It gets difficult to manage meetings, appointments manually by using a pen and paper.

Appointments+ can handle all of this very easily and more efficiently and streamline your appointments digitally.

The installation of this plugin is also as easy as other plugins. If you want to give it a try there’s a free version available on WordPress.org.

Yoast SEO

In my personal view, this plugin is the first one to be installed onto your WordPress site. Yes. It’s the utmost important plugin.

Yoast SEO plugin helps in your search engine optimization. In order to monetize your site, you ought to write blogs using a set of SEO rules and regulations.

The good news is you don’t have to memorize all the SEO rules, this plugin does it for you. Just type your blog and the plugin will guide you through the SEO of your site.

It comes for free as well as in the premium version with obviously more customizable features.

Wordfence

As the name suggests, this plugin provides fencing to your website and prevents it from getting hacked.

It checks for any core files, themes, and plugins for malware, bad URLs, SEO spam, malicious redirects and code injections.

WooCommerce

If you’re selling online, this plugin is a must-have and a top priority in your plugin installation list.

This plugin enables you to add product link, product images, product price, product logos, description, and product category.

WooCommerce is a free plugin and a few extensions are paid.

Elementor Page Builder

With this Elementor page builder, you can build a live page with no limits of design. This plugin delivers high-end page designs and advanced capabilities.

You’ll enjoy the design process as it is only a drag and drop builder. See your page built with the utmost ease.

Social Pug

This is my personal favourite. Installing this plugin is quite a simple task. Social Pug displays the icons in the form of buttons of various social accounts like Facebook, twitter, Instagram, etc.

If your reader likes your blog he/she can easily share the blog to their social sites.

You can place these social icons at the beginning of the post or after your call to action.