The Top 10 Plugins for WordPress in 2017

Top 10 Plugins

WordPress is one of the most popular platforms for building blogs, portfolios, and ecommerce websites. We use it in when creating websites for our clients in our web design Warrington projects. It’s easy to use, and it’s packed with plugins that enhance the look and the functionality of your website. The plugin directory is accessible from your dashboard. You can choose from free or paid plugins. Plugins you paid for can be uploaded by using the Add New option in the menu. If you are hosting your website on Wordpress.org, you can install third-party plugins too, while on Wordpress.com you won’t have that option.

It’s time for a countdown!

We made a list of top 10 plugins that will help you get the best from your WordPress website. We use most of these plugins in the websites of our web design Warrington projects.

10. Rank Higher with Yoast SEO

This plugin helps you optimize your pages’ content, headlines, meta descriptions, and keywords by performing a page analysis. It also analyses the readability of your content by checking for long sentences, passive voice usage, and adverbs. Yoast SEO can also help you generate URL’s and avoid getting penalized by Google for duplicate content. The free version can help you create SEO optimized content and abide by the rules of high-quality, readable articles, while the premium version offers more advanced features.

9. Fast Loading Websites with WP-Rocket

This plugin, despite not having a free version, makes it to our top 10 plugins since is well worth the money. It starts at around £30 per year for a single website. That might not sound so enticing, as there are so many free plugins that do the same job for free. In this case, however, you really get what you pay for. This plugin is the best when it comes to increasing the loading speed of your website, and it helps your website become more user-friendly. The best part about this plugin is that it doesn’t require any effort to maintain the results. You install, configure, and forget about it. The plugin also has regular updates, and since is a premium version, you can always contact customer support for questions.

8. Keep Your Eyes on Your Website Visitors with Google Analytics

This plugin helps you “stalk” your website visitors by gaining insights on the behaviours of your users. This plugin is a powerful yet free tool that tracks your visitor’s activity and generates reports about the site’s performance as a whole, as well individual pieces of content. We couldn’t skip mentioning Google Analytics in our top 10 plugins for WordPress because it also works well with Google AdWords. Now you can keep track of how your ads are doing. To start using Google Analytics, make sure you create a (free) account before installing the plugin.

7. Word fence Security- Keeps Your Website Secure

Another free plugin that makes our top 10 plugins, WordPress’s most installed security plugin comes with a firewall that protects your website from attacks. It can also scan for malware and it can alert you in real time if your website is about to be attacked. If you are concerned about your website’s security, give Word fence a try.

6. Type Kit Fonts-Hundreds of High-Quality Fonts

Type kit is an open source plugin that made its way to our top ten plugins through its simplicity and easy to use interface. Even though not everyone feels like leaving Times New Roman, unique (yet readable) fonts can give your website a distinct look. Type kit is a free service made by Adobe. To get started, create a free account.

5. Woo Commerce-The Most Popular Plugin for Online Stores

This plugin currently uses on more than 30% of ecommerce websites. It was first launched in 2011 and is now under the Automatic umbrella (the company that created Wordpress.com). The plugin has a free version. It can calculate the costs of shipping and taxes, and it accepts major credit cards, bank transfers, cash on delivery, and PayPal, too. The premium comes with tools like add-on cart for abandoned carts and an on-page checkout. Plus, the plugin is compatible with other plugins that extend its functionality.

4. Search WP-The High-Quality Search Bar

Find relevant content using this plugin. The search bar provided by WordPress isn’t that good. If you want your website visitors to have a good search experience, there is a better alternative than what WordPress provides. That alternative is Search WP. Search WP is a vital, high-quality tool that can improve the user’s experience on your website, and this is why it made its way to our top 10 plugins. You can index headlines, keywords, and descriptions, and you can create multiple search engines. You can create, for example, one search engine solely for products and another for articles. The price starts at around £40 per year.

3. Yellow Pencil-Change the Way Your Website Looks

This plugin helps you edit your website in real time, with no coding experience needed. You can simply click on an element and change the way it looks. The CSS style editor helps you change your website design within minutes. You can choose from over 50 different styles by clicking on the element. The plugin costs around £5 annually, and it comes with free updates.

2. Askimet-Eliminate Spam Comments

Comment spam can be quite a headache. It makes you look silly, and you always have to moderate the comments. Akismet is free to use for personal blogs. However, business and commercial websites have to pay for a subscription. The plugin works in the background, and you don’t have to configure it either. Even though you can’t rely on Askimet to eliminate every spam comment out there, it can filter quite a lot.

1. BackUpWordPress-Saves Your Website from Disaster

The winner in our top 10 plugins for WordPress is BackUpWordPress, a plugin that saves your data in case your website gets hacked. What can be more important than keeping your website’s data safe? Sometimes not even the strongest firewalls can stop hackers and malware. Making a regular backup of your content can save your business. This WordPress plugin rescues you from the headache of always saving your content. It saves your entire website on a timeframe of your choice, and you can have each backup file emailed back to you. The price starts at £20 per year for one website.

Why You Should Consider The Web Design Warrington Teams Top 10 Plugins List

The temptation is high to install whatever plugin that says it does its job in the description especially when is free. The truth is that some plugins are better than others. By installing the wrong ones, you deceive yourself into thinking that your website is doing just well, when in reality it’s filled with glitches. If you want to find out more about how you can get the best out of your website, don’t hesitate to check our blog where we reveal the secrets of our web design Warrington team. Written and published by Blue Whale Media.