WordPress Plug-ins you cannot live without!

One of the many things we love about WordPress is the flexibility to add functionality to blogs and websites, simply by installing a plug-in. With WordPress, you don’t need to be a web developer or know anything about how to write code, in order to have a fully functional, automated website – quickly and simply. Thousands of web developers have already taken their time and skill to develop a huge selection of free (and paid) plug-ins that are yours for the taking – all you need to do is download, install, and the plug-in is a new, fully functioning part of your WordPress website or blog.

What is a plug-in?

A plug-in is a piece of scripted code that adds a specific functionality to your website. For example, if you want a calendar function on your website, you would install a calendar plug-in to your WordPress website – usually placed on the side column (also referred to as a ‘widget’). There are plug-ins that enable your WordPress website to have membership capability (like we have on our own Sweet Spot Training Centre website), plug-ins to provide you with added security for your website and files, and even some fun plug-ins – like “Hello Dolly” – a plug-in that posts a random line of that classic theatre song “Hello Dolly” by Louis Armstrong to your dashboard, just to make you smile J Personally, being internet marketing specialists, we absolutely LOVE the SEO (search engine marketing) capability that some of these WordPress plug-ins provide. They really make it very fast and easy to boost WordPress web sites… with these SEO plug-ins, our WordPress sites get listed in Google within 3-5 days – instead of waiting the typical 3-6 months for Google to find it, while other SEO and marketing plug-ins push our websites to top spots in search engine listings and bring in a ton more web visitors/traffic than they would otherwise.

How do I install a plug-in?

Basically there are 2 ways to install a plug-in – 1) from the plug-in panel on your WordPress dashboard and 2) – downloading a plug-in to your computer and then uploading it into the plug-in panel. Both methods of installing a plug-in are quite simple. WordPress.org – the organization that hosts the WordPress application has a catalogue containing hundreds of themes (also known as ‘skins’ or the ‘look and feel’ of your website) and plug-ins. The nice thing about finding plug-ins (and themes for that matter) on WordPress.org is that you know they have been tried, tested, and that they contain relatively clean code (since WordPress.org is very particular about what they allow) so you can feel confident that plug-ins from this site should not give you any problems. This may not be the case for plug-ins you download from sites other than WordPress.org, so be sure to know what you are installing and who you are installing from before you do so.

All the plug-ins listed here are FREE, while a few of them offer additional functionalities for a small fee (these fees go directly to the developer and helps to pay for their time in developing these little gems for us to use).

Once you locate a plug-in, you will notice a link to the developer site. Most plug-in developers have a website with a full description of their plug-in, installation instructions and trouble-shooting. Many will also permit you to post questions on their site that they will try and answer however, remember that these developers have given their time and skill to create free products, so always be grateful and gracious. And, if you find one of their free plug-ins to be very helpful to you, it’s nice to send the developer a note of thanks on their website, telling them how much you love their plug-in or better yet, make an optional monetary ‘donation’ to show your appreciation.

To learn the two methods for installing WordPress plug-ins, watch this video.

Here are Your FREE Plug-ins for WordPress that you MUST HAVE

The rest of this article is available to Members only.
Login here or Not a member yet? MEMBERSHIP IS FREE! Become a member NOW!

[Guarded by Membership Site Software: WordPress Membership Site Plugin - MemberWing - membership site plugin]
[Supported by: VGA Capture Cards and VGA Capture Solutions]