If you are a new blogger, chances are you are wondering what plugins should I install before I start blogging?
First, a word about Jetpack.
What is Jetpack? It is a “package” of Plugins. It is basically a set of plugins that are helpful for blogging and so they packaged them all together and pre-installed them on your blog. You then pick and choose which of the Plugins in the pack to activate and use (some are pre-activated).
Jetpack is renowned for slowing down a site. I used it for about 8 months and still had success. I deleted it when I got my Google Analytics working so I could track my stats.
Buuuut…I like Jetpack Stats SO MUCH, that I did some more searching and found that I am not alone. Someone made a Plugin called Jetpack Lite. It strips Jetpack down to Stats and Shortlinks, and deletes all the other stuff. YAY! So what you want to do is first have regular Jetpack activated, and then install the Jetpack Lite plugin, and activate it. Hooray!
If you do want to use regular Jetpack for some of the features, only activate the features you want (and deactivate any that you are not using if they were pre-activated).
Plugins to Install before you start Blogging (and why)
Advanced Image Styles
One of the 2014 updates of WordPress removed a lot of the backend image controls (like custom image sizing and adding a border to your image, etc), and this plugin will give you the control back.
Conditional CAPTCHA
This is to combat spam comments. I usually delete Askimet and install this. I never get spam. Never.
Easy Contact Forms
It seems dumb, but WordPress doesn’t come with a Contact Form. Get this plugin. Make a new blank Page called Contact Me. Then go to the Easy Contact Form settings. Click to Forms. It will already have a Simple Contact Form ready for you. Copy the “Form Short Code”. Then paste that right into the Contact Page you made. Then when you view the page, it won’t have wonky code, it will instead be a beautiful Contact form…Magic!
Image Widget
Again, you don’t get an easy way to add an image to your sidebar built-in to WordPress! Just install this and you will be able to add images and input a link so that the image is clickable. Great for your blogger friend’s buttons, or direct paid sponsors!
Insert HTML Snippet
This is how I manage adding Adsense or other advertising html code to my blog. This plugin will show up in your left sidebar as XYZ Html. That is where you name and set up each ad. Then you go to your Widgets and use the “Insert HTML Snippet” and drag it to where you want to add your ad code, and you will be able to choose from a dropdown of ads you inputted into XYZ Html.
Login Lockdown
Blogs get hacked. Every day. This will limit the amount of times a hacker can guess your password before being locked out (5 is good). Install immediately!
Simple Custom CSS
If you need to tinker with design elements, you should never change the Stylesheet (style.css) directly (find your Stylesheet in Appearance/Editor). If you install this plugin, it will add a Custom CSS option under Appearance. Always make your changes here. Go into the Editor. Find what you want to change/tinker with, paste it to the Custom CSS page, and tinker away!
Hupso Share Buttons
This is the plugin I prefer for adding Share buttons at the bottom of my blog. Try different ones…find one you like. Just get one.
WordPress Yoast
This plugin seems a little intimidating at first. But just install it and it will show you a box under each post in the editor…it will tutor you in how to make your posts more SEO friendly.
These are my suggestions! But, see Katelyn’s list of 10 WordPress Plugins for new bloggers to see what she recommends.
Tracy Snyder says
Thank you for this. I just went for it when I moved from blogger to wp, still have no idea what I’m doing most of the time. I’m finally feeling comfortable enough to try adding plugins and such. I do wonder though if having too many plug ins will make my site load slower. Love all your tips here Jill! Keep up them coming!
Jill Levenhagen says
Thank you Tracy! Yes, plugins can get too much…but it takes a lot to be a problem. And many plugins are a benefit!
Jessica@designerssweetspot.com says
Great information here, just wondering about the Jetpak Lite plugin though. I can’t seem to find it. Has it been discontinued?
Jill Levenhagen says
Here is the link for it! https://wordpress.org/plugins/jetpack-lite/
Christie says
Hey! Whats your opinion on plugins that load the site faster? I haven’t gotten rid of jetpack yet but disabled anything I wasn’t using plus some features I didn’t understand. I have a temporary coming soon page up (from a plugin, so I’ll disable/delete that when I go public) so I don’t know if my plugins are slowing me down or not yet. It seems like every article I read on plugins warns about site slow down… leading me to question number two, how many plugins does it take to start slowing you down or do ALL plugins add to the loading time? Thanks! (I love your site, btw. I have it bookmarked and return here a lot while working on my blog.)
Jill Levenhagen says
I have a lot of plugins on my site. 50 maybe. My developer does not like that. Most of them want WAY less. But they can hard code stuff, and I just DIY. I can’t pay to get everything hard coded. The best thing I have found helpful (installed by a developer friend) is called P3 Plugin Profiler. When you run it, you will be able to see which plugins are using the most resources and maybe make some changes!
Katie says
Thank you for sharing this! I have been having a lot of issues with spam lately and have found this very useful. I have just installed a couple of those plug-ins so here’s hoping it improves the blog experience! 🙂
Jill Levenhagen says
Great…happy you found this! The Conditional Captcha is amazing. I NEVER get spam!
Sheena says
Thanks for sharing!! One of my projects for this weekend was to research plugins for my blog. I had your post pinned. I have gone through almost all of these plugins this afternoon and added several of them to my site!!
Jill Levenhagen says
Awesome Sheena! I hope it helped!
Kaaren says
Am I missing something? I can’t find a link to follow your blog. I’m sure there must be somewhere to sign up to receive future post but I’m not finding it. Please advise ASAP so I don’t loose you.
Nichole says
Is the plugin called Easy Contact Forms exactly? I can’t find a plugin with that exact title. Could you help?
Thanks!
Nichole says
fd
Nichole says
Please disregard above, there was a Cat incident 🙂
alia says
Hi Jill, i’m just starting to care about if I have pinterest followers or not (its always just been for me before) and I keep having this nagging question that I cant seem to find an answer for and thought it might make a good topic for a blog post for you if you were interested. How picky should I be about my pinterest followers? I see people following me that have only 1 board and like 1,000 random pins to that one board and they follow like 5K people and have very few followers… clearly these are spammers right? Do I block them? Does it matter if they follow me? And what is the deal with all those pinterest names like “home designer” that arent really people but dont seem like businesses either? Anyway, thought if you knew more on the subject that maybe im not the only one wondering all this….? Thanks! Love your blog.
Mallory says
I try to limit my WordPress plugins to 10-15 MAX for any of my sites as well as any client sites at my day job. Generally, the more plugins, the more vulnerabilities you have from a security standpoint, and the more chances there are that plugins, your theme and any future WP software versions won’t play nice together and that something will break.
That said, I love plugins that take care of a lot of stuff in one plugin. This is why WordPress SEO by Yoast is one of my go-to plugins for every site I work on. I recently started using Jetpack for some client sites after our developer tipped us off to their “Protect” feature which is a great basic security plugin. Some sort of security plugin or website firewall for your WordPress site is a MUST.
I recently learned about and purchased the Thrive Content Builder plugin: https://thrivethemes.com/contentbuilder/ It’s a $59 plugin, but I can see myself totally getting my money’s worth. I’m pretty handy with HTML and I know some CSS, but there are some things that are really hard to do without spending tons of time hard-coding things. I just purchased the plugin a few days ago, so I’ve only had time to update one page (a landing page for my new free e-course), but so far I am LOVING this plugin. I think we’ll be using it for client sites in the future at my day job, as it’s much more intuitive and easy to use for non-tech people than most of what’s out there for WordPress.
LSK says
Thanks so much this was GREAT info. that I’m always looking for and was wondering what the hell some of this was… I’m too busy to try to figure each thing out so i loved this 🙂
debbie says
I am a new blogger and just stumbled upon this post, I have been having problems with choosing the right plug in this really helped me.
SEO says
Google Analytics is a pretty amazing free tool. No matter kind of business you own, you should be using Google Analytics regularly to check the health of your site
Tara says
Thanks for the info! These tidbits are much appreciated. I plan to be up and runner nag after the new year. I am sure I will find this helpful!
Tara
bursa araç giydirme says
it’s a nice list, all the useful plugins are here