The Best Wordpress Plugins

Just got done configuring a new WordPress installation but cannot figure out what plugins you should install? Maybe you already have a WordPress site and are just looking to see if there are any feature-rich plugins that you could utilize. I’ve compiled a list of plugins I almost always install on any WordPress installation. In my opinion, these are the best WordPress plugins.

(Installing WordPress on an NGINX web server? Make sure you read my blog post about the most secure NGINX configuration for WordPress)

• Duplicate Post – Allows you to clone any posts and copy them as a new draft for further editing. I often use this plug-in when creating landing pages for products/services where I know I’ll be able to edit things on the page faster by cloning rather than creating each post by hand.
• Yoast SEO – Great tool that helps WordPress users with search engine optimization. Includes features such as auto XML Sitemap creation, breadcrumb editing, canonical URLs, title and meta descriptions, focus keyword targeting and much more.
• Disable Comments – Creating a site on which you don’t necessarily need people commenting on pages/posts? This plug in will allow you to globally disable comments on all types of pages and posts.
• iThemes Security – Definitely one of the best WordPress plugins around. Empowers you with over 30+ ways to secure and protect your WordPress installation. It has countless features that I don’t have room to list in here. Feel free to check out their WordPress plug-in site to find out more.
• Shortcodes Ultimate – Giant collection of visual and functional elements which you can in turn use in the post editor and even template files. Allows you to create tabs, buttons, boxes, sliders, carousels, responsive videos and a lot more. Has over 50 shortcodes that work with any theme.
• Bloom – Email opt-in and lead generation plugin for WordPress. Helps ensure your visitors get converted into loyal followers.
• Divi Builder – A great visual builder from ElegantThemes that came with my subscription to their Divi and Extra themes for WordPress. Highly recommend you check this plug-in out. It makes working with WordPress Design a breeze.
• Monarch – And yet another awesome plug in from ElegantThemes. This plugin helps your visitors share your blog posts as links on all of their social media.
• WP Smush – This plug-in automatically compresses and optimizes any images you upload to help with loading times on your website which in turn help with your site’s SEO.
• WPForms – Awesome form builder that can allows you to easily create contact forms, email subscription forms, order forms, payment forms and any other sort of form in minutes.

As previously mentioned, these are, in my opinion, the best WordPress plugins that everyone should install on their website. They all add features that will make administering your WordPress site so much easier. If you know of any plugins that I didn’t include, feel free to comment and I’ll definitely explore those as well to see if they should be on this list.