The most widely used website builder worldwide is WordPress. It is the engine behind more than 43% of all websites on the internet, including large corporate websites, eCommerce storefronts, and blogs run by small businesses.
A large portion of WordPress' success may be credited to the plugins that have made the content management system (CMS) adaptable, user-friendly, and feature-rich. Anyone can create a website with the features they need to achieve their business objectives by using one of the many plugins available.
However, what exactly are plugins? That and other topics will be covered in this WordPress plugin guide.
What is a WordPress Plugin?
A WordPress plugin is a piece of software that "plugs into" a WordPress website to improve or add features without the need for coding.
A plugin can transform your website or make small adjustments, depending on the functions it offers. For example, a basic WordPress website may be turned into an eCommerce store with full functionality using a plugin like WooCommerce. However, you won't have to do anything else after using a plugin like Disable Comments, which will accomplish exactly that.
Generally speaking, WordPress plugins are only compatible with self-hosted WordPress websites; hosted versions of WordPress, such as WordPress.com (not to be confused with WordPress.org), don't allow the installation of plugins.
How and When to use WordPress Plugins?
Although using plugins to build a WordPress website is not necessary, you will probably want to take advantage of the extra features and functionalities that the default platform does not offer. Plugin integration is a tempting option for WordPress websites for a number of reasons. You might want to improve user experience on your site by, for example, checking that it is as secure as possible, increasing its visibility through SEO, or optimizing its performance.
Almost any WordPress website can benefit in some way from using a few plugins. A great place to start is the WordPress Plugin Directory, which has a ton of free plugins with reviews and up-to-date records.
What do WordPress Plugins do?
WordPress plugins are designed to help you in turning a simple website into a solid, feature-rich platform. The following are a few of the primary functions of WordPress:
Enhanced functionality: You can improve the features of your website with the help of plugins. You can include e-commerce features, social media sharing buttons, contact forms, and more.
Better user experience: You can improve the user experience (UX) of your website by using a plugin to improve the navigation and UI of your site. This improves the accessibility of your website, which further improves SEO.
SEO: A few plugins are made to help increase the visibility of your website in search engine results. These are known as WordPress SEO plugins, and they help in making sure that your content reaches a wider audience.
Security: By shielding your website from dangers and weaknesses, security plugins assist make sure that both users' information and yours are protected.
Performance optimization: You can improve the speed of your website by using plugins. They can be used to speed up the loading of your website for users.
What are the types of WordPress Plugins
It's time to figure out what kinds of WordPress plugins are available now that you know what they are and how they work. Let's take a look at some of the categories for plugins, look for some of the top WordPress plugins, and learn the advantages that each may offer your website.
Security
In addition to having safe WordPress hosting, website-level security is also important. Websites that lack security are vulnerable to viruses, data theft, and financial loss.
Security plugins for WordPress are made to stop these unwanted attacks. A lot of them have a ton of features, such as firewalls, malicious IP blacklisting, and active monitoring.
Website Optimization
34% of visitors abandon websites that take longer than three seconds to load, according to Pingdom. For this reason, keeping your website optimized is important.
Plugins for website optimization are designed to optimize your site's database and code, resulting in significant performance improvements.
Contact Forms Plugins
Visitors can quickly and simply get in touch with you using a contact form instead of searching your website for your email address or other means of communication. The user experience of visitors to your WordPress website can be significantly improved by adding a contact form.
There are plenty of contact form plugins for WordPress websites if the theme you have chosen does not have one. Their features include a range of management and customization choices that let you fully customize your forms.
Caching Plugins
Caching plugins create static copies of web pages that are shown to visitors. By doing this, a site's speed is greatly increased by transferring less data between the browser, the WordPress database, and the server.
While many plugins for website optimization have caching features, some are specifically made for caching.
SEO Plugins
The process of improving a website and its content so it ranks higher in search results is known as search engine optimization, or SEO. If you run an online store, SEO is important for driving more organic visitors to your website and generating revenue.
Learning SEO might take years. Fortunately, you can use an SEO plugin to implement its best practices. An SEO plugin that specializes in blog material, for example, can evaluate and recommend directly from your post editor.
How to install Plugin to your website?
You can find and install plugins from WordPress Dashboard
Go to Plugins > Add New.
In the search field in the top right, enter [name of plugin].
Click the Install Now button to the right of the plugin.
Wait a few seconds for WordPress to install the plugin.
Click the Activate button to activate the plugin.
That’s it. You’ll find your new plugin in Plugins > Installed Plugins:
For the most part, that's how WordPress plugins are installed. However, some premium WordPress plugins, like WP Rocket, need you to upload plugin files from your PC.
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Conclusion
With the best WordPress plugins, you can easily improve the look and feel of your website. With thousands of plugins at your disposal, you may customize your website to fit your unique requirements.
Despite the fact that plugins are quite functional, they also raise the hosting and resource requirements for your website. For such a website, you might have to choose a performance-optimized host.
Supportfly can help. To help you get the most out of your free and premium WordPress plugins, Supportfly provides a variety of WordPress hosting plans with a free content delivery network and round-the-clock support.