Our Essential WordPress Plugin Stack – WPCAST006

In this episode, we discuss some of the common plugins we install on new WordPress sites.

The Changelog

• Doug:
  • Added SpeakPipe plugin to WPcast.fm
  • Please use this to leave us questions on our voicemail
• David:
  • Easy Pricing Tables Premium 1.8 / Easy Pricing Tables Free 1.6
  • JavaScript fix for alignment issues
  • Working on Ninja Forms / Zapier and email marketing plugins
  • Contact if you are interested in being a beta tester for either plugin

The Core

• Comments:
  • Disqus Comment System
    • Replaces default comments with Disqus commenting system
  • Antispam Bee
    • If you’re using default WordPress comments
    • Better at reducing spam than Akismet
• Social Sharing:
  • Socialize
    • Gives you a lot of customization options
    • Can create call to action boxes
• Contact Forms:
  • Ninja Forms
    • Free plugin, paid extensions
    • More cost effective if you only use a couple of extensions
  • Gravity Forms
    • Paid plugin
    • More cost effective if you use a lot of the add ons
• Analytics:
  • Google Analytics for WordPress (by Yoast)
    • Adds your Google Analytics tracking code
    • Can exclude logged in users, use outbound tracking
• SEO:
  • WordPress SEO (by Yoast)
    • Most popular SEO plugin, very powerful
• Security:
  • Limit Login Attempts
  • Better WP Security (now iThemes Security)
  • WordFence Security
• Backup (more detail in the next episode):
  • WordPress Backup to Dropbox
    • Easy, backs up your site to Dropbox
  • BackWPup
    • More options, other external destinations
• Editing:
  • Black Studio TinyMCE Widget
    • Lets you use the Visual Editor in your widgets
  • TinyMCE Advanced
    • Adds buttons to your Visual Editor like tables, horizontal lines
  • Preserved HTML Editor Markup
    • Keeps line breaks and other spacing intact
• Redirects:
  • Simple 301 Redirects
    • Easy URL redirects, allows for wildcards
    • Another plugin can be used for bulk adding redirects
• Custom Styling and Functions
  • My Custom CSS
    • Apply custom CSS without modifying your theme files
  • Create a custom functions plugin instead of modifying the theme

Tips & Tricks

• Mailgun (WordPress plugin)
  • Improves deliverability of WordPress-generated emails
  • Uses an external mail server
  • Free for up to 10,000 emails per month
• Rapportive
  • Add-on for Gmail / Google Apps
  • Displays more information about your contact