My Must Have WordPress Plugin Recommendations
I suspect everyone with some blogging experience has a list of their favorite plugins. Below is my list of must have plugins; but first I wanted to share an important reality that most pro-bloggers don’t tell you about.
Every time you add a plugin you slow down your blog and eat up server processor time. This is often not a problem for low traffic blogs but as you get more traffic you’ll grow out of your shared hosting much faster. So it is best to only run plugins you really need or that provide valuable features.
You might also notice there are no statistics plugins on my list. This is because any type of plugin that logs user activity makes heavy demands on a server. I find that it’s much better to use something like Google Analytics for logging user data than weighing your own database down with so much extra work. It can also save you a bunch of money by allowing you to stay on a shared hosting platform longer.
My Must Have WordPress Plugin Recommendations
- Akismet – Stops spammers cold.
- Contact Form 7 – Simple contact form plugin.
- Google XML Sitemaps – Automated Google sitemap generator to improve SEO (search engine optimization).
- MobilePress – Automatically generates a mobile (and iPhone) version of your blog.
- PHPEnkoder – Automatically masks email addresses that are occasionally posted.
- Search Everything – Makes the built-in search work better.
- SexyBookmarks – Elegant social media promotion plugin.
- WordPress Database Backup – Your content is your most valuable asset. Be sure to keep a backup of all your blogs.
- WP Super Cache – Reduces the load on your server, specifically MySQL (the database) and speeds page loads.
If you are using any plugins you’d like to suggest I’d love to hear about them. Please post a comment.
