This is part five in our series on starting your own website. The “super power” of WordPress is the extreme flexibility and customization that is possible. While we’ve already seen this in custom post types, nowhere is the power of WordPress more evident than in the available plugins. However, with the myriad of plugins available, where do you even start? We’ll cover some essential plugins, but everything else comes down to the needs of your specific site. I’ve often said, “if you can dream it, you can build it with WordPress”. Plugins are where you find much of the functionality to “build your dream”. So yes, “you must have plugins!”
Free vs. Paid
You’ll find over 50k plugins on the WordPress.org plugin repository, and there are thousands of free and paid plugins elsewhere. But which should you choose for your site? Both, maybe… When you are first starting your website, there’s absolutely nothing like getting a bunch of free plugins. And while we make our money from plugins, I would recommend starting out with 100% free plugins. Why?
Unless you have some need that only a paid plugin will fill, there are apt to be multiple options for any given functionality. From form plugins, to SEO plugins, anti-spam plugins, and block plugins, there are plenty of options. Trying to figure out where to spend your hard-earned money when you’re starting out is just going to add extra stress to the decision. Also, you’re still learning, so some feature you think you need might not be that essential down the road. At the beginning, it’s best to keep it simple and avoid unnecessary complexity.
As you build your site, and work on it over the first months, you’ll discover exactly what features are essential. Then, once you have a better handle on things, and once you can afford to invest more in your site, you can start paying for some premium functionality. Many of the free plugins will have premium versions, or premium services that you can purchase.
Personally, even if I can make do with a free version of a plugin, I try to find a way to support the author or company that makes the plugin. If it’s adding value to my site, and I’m making money from that site, then I support the folks that make that possible. Some plugin authors don’t want any money, and will even recommend other ways you can show your appreciation. Leaving a plugin review is a great way to show your support for a plugin in either case.
Must Have Plugins, the Essentials
Beyond the core WordPress functionality, there are a few sorts of plugins I consider essential. These include things like contact forms, anti-spam, page caching, and security plugins. Most websites need a contact page, and you don’t normally want to post your email online for spammers to steal. Likewise, anti-spam and security plugins are like the locks on your website. Sure, you could run a business without locks on the door, but that would be stupid… And what is page caching? Well, let’s start there then!
Caching Plugins for Site Performance
There are a lot of things you can do to make sure your site is fast and doesn’t discourage repeat visits. One of the easiest ways to start things off right with performance is to install a page caching plugin. But what does it do, and why do you need one?
As with most content management systems (CMS) like WordPress, all the information for your website is stored in a database. That information is retrieved by PHP code and then turned into HTML code the browser can read. For a simple page, that might be relatively quick, but adding plugins to your site can slow it down.
A caching plugin saves the HTML that is generated, so that accessing the database isn’t necessary. That can increase the performance of your site dramatically. There are a lot of cache plugins, but a couple good ones are Cache Enabler and WP Super Cache. Of course, all our paid plans come with our SWIS Performance plugin that includes page caching, but keep in mind what I said earlier about free & paid plugins.
Caching Caveats
Now, some web hosts include page caching at the server level, and then you may not need a cache plugin. Check with their support team, or just test it out and see if a caching plugin makes your site feel any faster. Cache plugins don’t cache visits for logged-in users. So be sure to test things while logged out–in a separate browser, or an incognito window.
Some cache plugins will automatically purge/clear the cache when you update your site. However, certain updates might not be detected by a cache plugin, so sometimes you need to manually purge the cache. So if you find yourself wondering why something on your site isn’t updating, look for the cache purge function.
Contact Forms
Unless you’re a hermit, you probably want your visitors to be able to contact you. This is even more likely if you’re starting a business website. Like I said earlier, you don’t want to post your email online, though you certainly might make your mailing address and phone number available. A contact form is a great option to allow folks to get in touch. As a business, you can even use a contact form to help you collect additional information that will make it easier to help your customers.
Two of the most popular free options are Contact Form 7 and WP Forms Lite. Both will allow you to easily build a contact form, or other simple forms. I’ve used both, but have been using WP Forms Lite more recently because the interface is easier to use. With any contact form, you’ll probably want it to send you an email, so make sure that functionality is working. That takes us to a category of plugin that gets an honorable mention.
