As a more “experienced blogger” (lol) I’ve learned a bit about WordPress and how it works. I am by no means an expert but after doing this for a couple of years now I’m realizing what I can and can’t live without. That’s why I put together a helpful list of 11 must have WordPress plugins for bloggers and I hope you find these suggestions useful as well.
What is a Plugin?
WordPress plugins are are simple ways to add functionality to your WordPress site. Looking to add a sign up form for your email list? There’s a plugin for that. Trying to increase the security on your site? There’s a plugin for that as well.
WP Beginner offers a super helpful and more in-depth explanation about plugins and how they are created if you’re interested. For our purpose today, you just need to know that plugins add functions to your blog.
What are the must have plugins for new bloggers? Check out this post to find out! #blogging Click To TweetHow do I find them?
First you need to decide what type of functionality you need. Let’s say you want to connect use a new email service provider – MailerLite, for example.
Go to your WordPress dashboard and click on plugins. When you do, a three item menu will show up.
From the three options choose “add new”.
Searching for your Plugin
When you click the “add new” option, a new screen will come up with a bunch of choices. Look to the right side of the screen and there will be a search bar. You can search by keyword, tag or author. I usually search by keyword.
Type in what you’re looking for. In our example – MailerLite and press enter. After you press enter a number of suggestions will pop up. If you know what you’re looking for then choose that one. If you’re not sure exactly which plug in to use, check the following characteristics to see if it’s a good fit:
- Is it up to date with your version of WordPress? This is pretty important to make sure there are no glitches or problems between the plugin and your site.
- How many positive reviews does it have and how many active installs are there? I tend to prefer more established plugins. That way I know they’ll work and have a strong history behind them.
- When was it last updated? This shows that the plugin is properly supported. If it hasn’t been updated in three years I’d choose a different option.
How to Install & Activate the Plugin
To install the plugin just press “install now” and it’s done. You’ll see the little orange circle doing it’s work and once it’s done a green check mark will appear. Once you’ve got your check mark you’re good to go.
Once you install the plugin you need to activate it. Go back to the menu on the left hand side and you’ll see the option to “activate” press that button and you’re ready.
Now that you know how to install a plugin, here is my list of must have WordPress plugins for bloggers:
Must Have WordPress Plugins for Bloggers
Please note, this list contains affiliate links to products I use and enjoy. If you make a purchase I will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. For more information please see my Disclaimer. Thank you for supporting the blog!
General Must Have WordPress Plugins
Favicon by Real Favicon Generator – see that little square on the left side of the web address? That’s a favicon. I had no idea until a fellow blogger suggested that I change my favicon and I looked it up on google. This plug in helps you personalize your favicon.
Google Analytics for WordPress – this helps you keep track of how many people have visited your website, where they came from, how long they stay on the site etc. This is really important information when you’re trying to understand your audience and grow your blog.
Insert Headers and Footers – does what it says – lets you insert a header/footer.
Yoast SEO – Search Engine Optimization (SEO) helps you get your site found by search engines. This plug in helps you figure out if you’re ticking off all of the boxes.
Security Related Must Have WordPress Plugins
Akismet – protects against spam
Limit Login Attempts – since there are malicious spammers out there it’s important to make sure you have security measures in place.
Wordfence – another security plug ins. This is a must have WordPress plugin because it is so helpful when your site is being attacked by spam comments. With this plugin you can block the IP addresses sending those spam comments and stop them in their tracks. I’ve had to do this a few times and thank goodness for Wordfence.
Audience Related Must Have WordPress Plugins
Sumo – this plug in allows you to insert sharing buttons, which makes social media sharing that much easier. It also has a bunch of other features but I primarily use it for the sharing buttons.
MailerLite – I’ve been using MailerLite as my email service provider for the past few months. So far, I’ve found it much easier to use than some of the other options out there. MailerLite makes it easier to send updates to your subscribers, create a landing page and reader friendly pop ups to capture email addresses.
MailMunch – see the pretty boxes in my posts telling you to subscribe? I created those using MailMunch and so far it’s been pretty great. I find the sign in boxes are much more attractive than the other free options out there.
Jetpack – also provides you with insight into how your site is doing and provides sharing buttons.
Now it’s your turn…
What are your must have WordPress plugins? Please share in the comments!
For more blogging tips and help check out these posts:
- Best Course for New Bloggers: A Review of Blog by Number
- What I’ve Learned in my First Year of Blogging
- 5 Things I Hate About Blogging
- Blogging Secrets: A Review of Traffic Transformation
very nice and helpful article thanks for doing research for helping others like me God bless you.
As a new blogger this is an extremely helpful article. There are quite a few plugins that I’m off to download now.
Thanks for the insight!
This is a great article. Are plug ins free or do they generally have a fee for the premium version. Thanks again for the list. I will be bookmarking and adding to my blog. Happy New Year.
The Insert Header and Footer plugin may be exactly what I am looking for. I want an easy way to add my affiliate link statement that covers me and is also a bit easier then what I do now.
I really like Jetpack and Yoast. Great advice, thanks for sharing.
I love Yoast and WP recipe App for my recipes
It looks like this is a very popular post. Be looking for a feature this week on the Blogger’s Pit Stop.
I love posts on plugins, it saves time and I see things that I would miss otherwise.
Kathleen
Blogger’s Pit Stop
I wish I had known about Favicon when I first started blogging over 8 1/2 years ago. I can’t remember how I created my favicon but I do remember it was a pain in the neck . . . Thanks so much for sharing at our Party in Your PJs.
Hi Nicole,
Great post. Congratulations. It won the Inspire Me Monday Linky Party and will be featured on my blog tomorrow.
Janice
these area ll good ones. I found the “related post” plug in to be great until an update crashed my site for a day. Now I need to find a new one of those! #fridayfrivilolity
A very helpful post for bloggers and’ thanks for sharing at #BloggersPitStop. Sometimes we can overload with plug-ins so it is good to have a reference of what the basic ‘should have’ ones are.
I’m already using Yoast premium and Wordfence. I made my own favicons before I knew there was a plugin for making them. I have Mailchimp, but it seems complicated. I may look into the mail plug-ins you suggested. It’s always good to get feedback from someone who is using them. appreciate your input.
Thanks for sharing this. I looked at my plugins to see what I had. I ended up installing one from your list. I’ll look through your list again later to see what else I may need to install.
As a wordpress user, some of these plugins are a must for a good blog.
This is a great list. I’ve got most of these but some were new and I will definitely be checking them out. Thanks so much for sharing.
Love love love this post! Your explanations are so clear an understandable! And I downloaded your checklist! Thank you so much for sharing this and helping me!
xoxo Annaleid
Thanks for the great advice Nicole. After two years of blogging, I am using similar plugins: Askimet, Google Analytics, Yoast SEO. I use MailChimp and Simple Social Share. I also use BackUpWordPress. I haven’t tried the Header Footer plugin. I’ll check it out. Thanks again. I found your post on #WonderfulWednesday.
I’m currently in the process of transferring from Wix to WordPress and I would be lying if I said I totally know what I’m doing! LOL! This post is super helpful and I’ve pinned it so i can refer back to it as I make the transition. Thanks for sharing!!
This is so helpful! Thanks, Nicole!! I’m going to look into a few of these!! XO, Kim
Great suggestions for plugins. I have most of the ones you mentioned, so I felt pretty good!. Ha! I would also suggest Social Warfare. It really is my favorite plugin for social media sharing. I can control what people share. Thanks for the awesome post!
What a great resource list you’ve given us! I’m definitely going to make sure I have all these useful tools!
Bettye
Hi Nicole,
I don’t have only Sumo, I’ve tried to install but I had problems, but definitely I’ll try it again. Thanks for sharing!
These sound great, thank you so much! I had no idea about Sumo but always wondering how to get the share button on there….I just found out that you have to have a business plan on WP to even install these and I don’t, which means I would have to pay more money…that is definitely disappointing!
Hi Nicole,
I love reading posts about plugins that will help us improve our blogs. This is a great list of plugins, while I don’t use all of them. I do believe that Yoast SEO is one of those plugins that you need to use on your blog.
I use the premium version because it makes internal linking a lot easier. I have 120 published posts on my blog and Yoast SEO helps make the internal linking a lot easier.
Sometimes it will remind me to link to a post that I’ve written months ago. I would never remember that I wrote the post if it wasn’t for Yoast.
Thanks for sharing these plugins with us. I have no doubt that they will help anyone improve their blog.
Have a great day 🙂
Susan
Thank you so much for sharing all these plug ins. Will definitely be using these when I pay and host my domain.
Hi Nicole great posts.
I love Wordfence & Jetpacks.
The other two I couldn’t live without are Pretty Links lites (a url shorter) and Google Fonts so I can easily set colors.
Post pinned!
Thanks! I’ve been inundated with spam comments lately, so I will have to install the Wordfence one. Appreciate the info!
Hi Nicole! Thi post is great! I was looking for a plugin to insert boxes to sign up for my email list. And I like you shared yours, is really nice. SO you convinced me 🙂 I will download the MailMunch plugin 🙂
This is a great article for anybody just starting out! Very nice indeed!
This rundown is so insightful and actually helpful… hard to find that anymore. I’ve been wanting to refresh and upgrade my plugins for months. Thanks for sharing!
Yep, this is me a new blogger who is still a bit clueless when it comes to the best plugins. I shall be bookmarking this post!