Why You Need Wordpress Plugins
So, you've decided it's time to create your own self-hosted blog, and you've (wisely) chosen Wordpress to do it. You've chosen a theme to make the site look attractive, and you're ready to start posting. But wait! There's one more thing you need to understand - plugins.
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Why Do I Need Wordpress Plugins?
You need plugins because when you're a new blog owner, you need all the expert help you can get - and good plugins are written by expert developers. They know far better than you, how to get the best out of Wordpress.
Plugins are very powerful "add-ons". They're one of the things that make Wordpress such a great tool for novice webmasters.
What Can Plugins Do?
If you need to add or change something on your Wordpress blog, chances are that there's a plugin to do it. There are plugins that:
- prevent spam comments (Akismet)
- create your "Contact Us" page (a "must" for Google)
- create your XML sitemap
- add your Google Analytics code
- optimize for search engines
- monetize your blog using Amazon, eBay, Commission Junction or Adsense
- notify you of broken links
- add Google News pages or posts (useful for fresh content)
and much, much more.
Why Not Do it Myself?
To change or add something to the design or functionality of your blog, you'll need to modify the coding of your theme, or the code in a file on your server.
There's nothing more frightening than making a seemingly innocent change to a single line of code on your theme, opening your blog to see the effect - and instead of your blog's front page, you see a blank white screen with a single line of text saying something like, "fatal error at line....."
Actually, there is something worse - making a small change to a file on your server, then finding you can't even log in to wp-admin any more....
I've experienced both of those stomach-churning experiences! Of course, the solution is to save a copy of the code before you start making changes, so you can paste it back in and get your blog back on the air - but it's still a horrible feeling to discover you've broken your site, and an anxious time until you get it working again. And that's one reason I like plugins!
Benefits of Plugins #2 - Portability
There's another benefit to using plugins instead of hard-coding.
If you're new to blogging, I can almost guarantee that you'll want to change themes at some point in your blog's lifetime. At the very least, you'll upgrade to a newer version of the one you're using. When you do either of those things, I hope you have a file somewhere where you've recorded every little change or addition you made to your site - because you're going to lose the lot, and will have to enter the changes all over again from scratch.
Whereas if you used plugins, you can change or upgrade your theme to your heart's content, and the plugins will look after it for you.
Using plugins also makes it easy to replicate your site's functionality. Once you know the plugins you like to use, you can quickly use them when setting up a second, third, fourth or umpteen other Wordpress blogs.
Plugins I Use
These are the plugins I use. I'm not going to link to the plugin sites because it's unnecessary - install these by clicking "Add New" on your Plugin menu and doing a search.
- Akismet
- Contact Form 7
- Google XML Sitemaps
- Flexi Pages Widget
- Google News
- Smart Youtube
- WP Smush.It
- Amazon Reloaded (to find specific products) or
- Amazon Autoposter (to create product-related posts)
- Broken Link Checker
The last three are only activated when I want to use them.
I should use a SEO plugin but I've yet to find one that's not either incomprehensible, or bloated, or incompatible with the latest version of Wordpress...
How to Find Wordpress Plugins
It's easy to find Plugins - just go to the Plugin menu on your Wordpress blog, click on "Add New" and do a search.
But please, don't just install the first one that takes your fancy.
Anyone can create a plugin. Some are outstanding; some are outdated; some have bugs; some plain don't work; and some will break your site. So before installing any plugin, do a little research.
- Check its star rating and feedback. If there are very few ratings, think twice.
- Check the install AND the uninstall instructions. If you're required to modify .htaccess files or do any other coding to make it work (or to remove it), think twice. I once broke my site because I didn't have the knowledge to follow the uninstall instructions correctly.
- Google the plugin and see what people are saying about it. If it's a paid plugin, remember there will be an affiliate scheme, so take any glowing reviews with a pinch of salt.
While you're Googling, you'll probably find other plugins that do the same job, but which didn't come up in your search. That's because they're not listed on Wordpress.org - but that doesn't mean they're no good. There are many good themes and plugins which are not listed. For those, you'll have to rely on forums and blogs to tell you whether they're worth installing.
Using Wordpress Plugins
When you discover the range that's out there, it's tempting to go plugin-mad - but please don't! Too many plugins can slow your site down - and that's an issue, because one of the measures Google uses when deciding your pagerank is how fast your site loads. So:
- only install a plugin if you can see a worthwhile use for it (not just because someone says it's good).
- if you install a plugin you only use occasionally (like Broken Link Checker or Amazon Reloaded), deactivate it when you're not using it.
- periodically review your plugins and get rid of any you're not getting value from.
Text copyright Marisa Wright. "I love Wordpress" sticker by cinefilo. "Argh!" by MJRoberts55.
Comments
Hello - I've just started using wordpress (1 mo or so ago) and its really cool with all the plugins & features you can add + all the personalization. However one thing I cannot figure out is how to show clicks in my adsense reports.
I have adsense enabled on both of my hosted wordpress blogs - (http://www.mou5etrap.com & also on http://www.imoney-life.com) - if I view them in google analytics I am seeing traffic coming to both sites (not huge but still ...) however nothing is showing up at all in adsense and I really don't understand why??
I have used my Adsense code in the side bar + also utilized the Adsense Now! plugin to enable automatic ads on my posts and if you browse the posts, the ads are showing up on both sites, but I’m really unsure why the traffic isn’t showing up on the reports. I didn’t seem to have similar issues with Blogger sites at all.
Is there somewhere on a hosted wordpress blog that you are supposed to “enable” adsense or something? I’ve edited my robots.txt file for both sites also so really confused.
Using of plugins is essential to both novices and advanced users. Even an advance user will use something already finished that works rather than creating it from scratch.
The question is which ones to use, as some plugins are not good for your website, some slow down your performances, some are simply not good. always look for the grade of the plugin, wordpress version compatibility and comments for that plugin left by users.
great hub once again, voted up:)
Definately, Wordpress is the best framework for blogging (and even for regular websites too). I agree that plug-ins are a good thing to use on your Wordpress. Even experienced Wordpress developers use them. This is because they add functionality to Wordpress. One good one to have is the Wordpress All-In-One SEO plugin. Although, Wordpress is already very good in terms of SEO (search engine optimization), some people say that plugin is a "must-have" if you want to really optimize your blog for search engine traffic.
I also love how Wordpress 3.0 makes it so easy to update all your plugins from within the admin panel.
Very good post. I know a lot of people can use the information that you provided.
voted up & useful! Thank you so much, rather than work on my blog, I've just avoided it, not knowing what to do next, now I want to at least try...
Thanks for a brilliant article on Wordpress Plugins... Its gettin me there!
Very informative hub. I use many plugins on my Wordpress.org site. I love Wordpress and my site gets good rankings on Google. I would strongly agree plugins are very important. Thanks for the share.
@scifi, have you got your blogs set up as channels in Adsense? On Analytics, I seem to recall there's some limitation to how many sites you can track for Adsense.
Peacefulparadox, I tried All-in-One SEO and I've heard lots of people saying how good it is. I tried it on one site, couldn't understand what I was meant to do with it, and I noticed my site slowing down - so I got rid of it. I do realise I need to find an alternative but haven't done so yet!
Great hub as always, Marisa. IMHO, most themes are nowadays so optimized for SEO that you don't need any seo plugins anymore. What I do use is a related post / internal linking plugin on some sites, but even that you can do manually. SY
Wordpress plugin is useful. But the man behind is the key.
Great information. Great write-up on wordpress.
@Marisa Wright - I believe you're back to front.
You can track up to 200 channels in adsense but google analytics will track all earnings regardless of channels.
@SciFi, in your adsense account click Adsense Setup>Channels>URL Channels>+ Add New Channel and type [site name].com, for easier tracking.
Remember - only about 5% of visitors will click or buy.
:-)
Plugins makes your blog more effective and that the reason Wordpress is the best blogging service on the Internet. One more point mentioned by you I liked and that is avoiding overuse of plugins.
@WryLilt, you're right as far as HubPages go, but for individual websites it must be different. For some reason I can't see my Adsense earnings on any of my websites on Analytics, only my HubPages income. I've never worried about it because I can see them on Adsense itself.
Marissa, I am an experienced web site builder that has recently started using Word Press for on-site blogs, and I agree completely with you. Plug-ins make it easy to add functions, are portable and reliable. And by using Word Press as a platform for an entire web site, I can build a site for those who want to do some or all of their own updating without having to learn HTML and CSS. Word Press is great and plug ins make it even better.
Great information Marisa. I am in the process of developing my BLOG now and will refer back to this as I progress. Thanks, JM
Hi, Marisa Wright
Great Article.... well written
Thank you for sharing this
Marisa wonderful again with a great hub. Wordpress is a great blogging service and we all in love with it. The beauty this blogging platform has can't be expressed in words. So thanks for sharing nice information.
I learned a lot. Great information. I am using Wordpress. Thanks for sharing.
Marisa,
I always learn allot from your hubs - you pack them full of great tips and advise. And yes, you cause me allot of work, redoing Hubs but the work is worth it to increase the quality. Excellent information, well research and as always well written. I barely have Wordpress up and running - you gave me the information to take it from a crawl to a sprinter. Thank you!
I think plugins are an excellent timesaver, not only in WordPress, but many other writing systems like Blogger. Voting this Up and Interesting.
WryLilt 21 months ago
Thanks for the great hub! I only have two plugins right now, I should go find some more to help me out. :-)