The Most Important Wordpress Plugins

You ponder the question the moment you finish installing your Wordpress software. You probably ask yourself prior to then, just so that you can plan it out. And then you ask me, the zilla. You're welcome. And what do I usually respond? "I dunno."





You're frustrated because now here's a new piece of the puzzle that you feel that you have to learn. Dang. You just want the site to work with all of its relevant parts and here I am with that short answer. WHAT A DOUCHE I R! Nah, besides being a douche. It's not that easy telling a client what type of plugins they will possibly need for their site. There are so many things to consider (mainly memory, aesthetics, is it really useful?) before I can actually tell you "yeah get this _____ plugin," because I want to be right. And every situation is atypical...

So I usually say "I dunno," so that when you run into an issue with a plugin (because there will be issues), you won't fault yours truly. :)

Being that most plugins are just pieces of eye candy and don't really extend the functionality of a blog (IMO), I'm going to put what I feel are the most important wordpress plugins to have for ANY WP blog. And perhaps a couple these plugins should be ingrained into future versions of the software. More importantly, and I say this with the voice of Moses on the summit of Mt. Sinai, KNOW HOW YOUR PLUGINS WORK. I'm not saying become a developer. Don't start asking me how to code and stuff. I'm saying READ THE INSTRUCTIONS. Check the behavior of your site. This ain't a toaster, you don't just turn it on and hopefully everything is golden brown.

Depending on the type of server you got, memory, and how it performs...the cache plugin is probably the first plugin I dive in for.

WP Supercache - makes static copies of your pages and reproduces them.

W3 Total Cache - Caches and or minimizes database queries, pages, feeds, css, js, html, and more...

Hyper Cache - Cache plugin to reduce memory use and database queries

DB Cache Reloaded - caches database queries.

WP Widget Cache - caches database queries made by widgets.

Mobile Pack - Mobile design is past necessity now, make sure you have SOMETHING!

Akismet - Spam destroyer! It's a necessity. If you aren't using a spam filter, you must be a wizard or something.

Comment Reply Notification - People love "being responded to" and will usually respond to anything if you are talking to them...or seem like you are replying to what they are saying.

Related Posts - Because sometimes people may have missed similar drops that's deep in the belly of your archives.

All-in-One SEO Pack - supposedly the best SEO thingamajig out there.

In the end, I will always tell users to cut back on the number of plugins and scripts that they use. Personally, I probably wouldn't use a mobile plugin or a related posts plugin or anything that I can particularly mash out myself or come up with some other alternative for. Those 3rd party alternatives for mobile sites...don't even bother.

Why didn't I add something that connects to all social networks? Well social networks change so often and it's a good chance that they can already import your blog's feed in some way. I rather you tinker with that than add another plugin. But yeah bottomline, performance is key to me. Getting the site up fast and serving the readers is most important. Performance and caching doesn't begin and end with plugins but they are a great start.

I see that All-in-One SEO out there a lot. Alot of people download it...Even more don't know how to use it. I think similar can be performed with a well designed theme, traffic, marketing, and above all GREAT content!