After installing WordPress, the next thing to do right away is install essential plugins that will help your blog in so many ways. Stay protected, increase user experience, and most of all add cool features. There are thousands of plugins to look at in the WordPress code index but only a few made the cut on WPOutcast. I will be sharing all the WordPress plugins that are powering WPoutcast to success.
The plugins below can be used for blogs running off any WordPress Framework or no framework at all. You can find some excellent plugins for a reasonable price over at Envato Marketplace. I have one of the plugins installed on this blog and have bought three more that I may incorporate into this blog later on down the road.
Most Recent Plugins Used By WPOutcast
SEO Plugins
- Really Simple SSL – We bought a SSL from Godaddy and this plugin was a big help in getting the tiny details sorted out when we moved to HTTPS.
- Restore Image Title – Gives the ability to add the correct “alt” tags to images.
- Schema – Most themes these days come with Schema built in but I found out our current theme does not. In that case, I installed this plugin to implement this. If you are running the Genesis Framework, there is a better version of Schema to use. (Improve Genesis Schema)
- Yoast SEO for WordPress plugin – See Also: How To Set Up The Yoast Premium SEO Plugin
WooCommerce Best Plugins
- WooCommerce Smart Orders Page for Woocommerce 3.0 – This Plugin is considered one of the best WooCommerce plugin to create stunning and smart orders page.
- WooCommerce Flash Sales – Black Friday and Cyber Monday Sales Booster – Do you want to offer Flash Sales on Black Friday and Cyber Monday then look no further, this plugin will create a stunning sales experience.
- WooCommerce Advanced Purchase Order Gateway – WooCommerce Advanced Purchase Order Gateway is one of our favorite plugins that we use on all of our WooCommerce sites.
Tracking Traffic Stats
- JetPack – This Plugin has so many good features. See our tutorial on What JetPack Modules To Enable?
Security & Comment Spam Protection
- Akismet – helps blocks lots of spam comments but not everyone. Here is a tutorial on setting up the Akismet plugin
- iThemes Security – Very good security plugin even for the free version that we are using
Subscription Form
- WP Subscribe – This adds the form you see in the sidebar to collect emails to your Autoresponder list. (We use MailChimp)
Custom Homepage Layout
- Visual Composer – We use this premium plugin to create our custom homepage. This plugin has so many more use’s that we have not tapped into yet. Worth the investment.
- Beaver Builder – Read the full beaver builder review and also check out the awesome Beaver Themer addon.
Caching & Optimize Plugins
- Comet Cache Plugin – A simple plugin to help regard speed and improve GTmetrix performance. (My Review)
Database Cleaning
- Advanced Database Cleaner – This plugin deletes spam comments, revisions, and other junk in the trunk. Helps increase hosting disk space and a little with page speed. (My Review)
Image Compression Optimization
- Short Pixel – A must have if you upload images, the paid version is worth every last cent. Read our guide on how to How To Optimize Images with this plugin
Link Tracking
- Thirsty Affiliates – This is an excellent link tracking plugin that we are using. (My Review)
Social Media Sharing Plugins
- Revive Pro – A premium plugin for automatically sharing old content to your social media accounts. Check out our Revive tutorial.
- Social Warfare – An alternative plugin to Monarch but with lot more important features for any type of blogger. Visit our tutorial on the Social Warfare to get a glimpse of it.
The plugins listed above may be changed in the future. You don’t have to use all of them but put some serious thought into investigating all of them and the benefits that your blog will receive. I purposely left out the Genesis plugins as they only work perfectly on themes using the Genesis Framework.
If this list of WPOutcasts plugins has helped your blog in any way, please consider sharing it online with your social media followers to help them as well.
