If you have a WordPress website, you are familiar with the term plugin [a piece of software that extends and adds functionalities or adds new features to your WordPress website].
While less is more, some of them are essential for your website to be what you want it to be. And there are some, that are essential for any type if website, whether it’s a blog, a shop , portfolio, business presentation etc.
Here are out top 5 free essential plugins that any website should have:
#1 Bullet Proof Security
A plugin that protects you against thousands of different attacks that can happen to your website; including firewalls, security monitoring, login security and strengthens access privileges to prevent costly attacks.
It’s been downloaded over a million times and has 5 star rating. Whilst the set up has been a little bit challenging for non-tech savvy, with recent updates to the plugin, the one click set up, had made this plugin truly the best when it comes to protecting your website.
Pro version also available.
#2 Contact Form
Every website should have a contact form (rather then just published email address) for people to submit their enquires securely and to minimise spam.
There are many great Contact form plugins, such as Contact Form 7, Fast Secure Contact Form, but by far the easiest to use are Ninja Forms.
Why we love them? They have drag and drop builder, which makes creating forms from scratch really easy. It also very simple to duplicate, edit and manage your forms should you need to make changes in the future.
The visual design of the form will adjust to the style of your website template so it doesn’t require and css skills.
But the best things is that Nina Forms, are a free alternative to Gravity Forms, meaning you can easily create complicated forms with multiple elements, such as radio buttons, multiple choice questions, calculations, payment fields and so on.
They’re more then just a contact form.
#3 Google Analytics Dashboard for WP
There are many plugins that help you add Google Analytics codes easily to your website without knowing how to code.
This one is the easiest to set up for non tech savvy and allows you to view key Google Analytics reports in your WordPress dashboard.
Why you need it? If you can’t track, you can’t measure. And if you can’t measure, you can’t see what works and what doesn’t. So how do you grow?
#4 Short Codes Ultimate
A must have for anyone that wants to have their pages look like they’ve been coded from scratch.
From bullet points that use your branding colours, to icons, to multi-column text, to sliders, galleries, video player, accorditions, tabs…you name it…Short Codes Ultimate is your helper to make your blog and website looks fantastic.
Scared of word “short code”? Don’t be. The plugins interface lets you add them with a click of a button through your visual editor of your pages. Simply choose a function, follow the prompt, choose designs you like nad voila, you have a beautiful page or blog post. They also provide cheat-sheets and examples.
#5 Shereaholic
You write awesome content, so it’s worth having it discovered, right?
Sheareaholic is the top of the top platformfor amplifying your content. Used by top companies like Mashable, The New York Times, BBC, Entrepreneur Magazine to name just few…I don’t need to say much more…You must have it!
Socials buttons, analytics, related content suggestions and more will take your content to next level.
Most plugins are very easy to add to your WordPress website. Just go to upload new plugin in your Dashboard, search for plugin and follow instructions to set up as per your requirements.
And if you get stuck, you can always reach out to us and we’ll help you out.