Plugins are a great way to create unbelievable success quickly to your website
When it comes to adding additional functionality to your website then you will probably find there is a plugin for almost every conceivable function you could think of.
Working smarter, faster, and more productively is paramount when it comes to generating content for your site and occasionally displaying this content requires the need for a plugin.
We’re quick to grab any and all WordPress plugins that can give the blog an extra edge or can wire up a feature we’d love to test. Whenever we dream something up to try on our website, the first place we turn is WordPress plugins. We’ve collected quite the list of favorites. I’m sure you have too!
The Good!
These will give you additional functionality and will add a new dimension to your website with a ZERO cost involved, some will have an un-lockable area for a small fee.
They will be in the wordpress plugins directory and they will be marked “Compatible with your theme”.
The Bad!
Look at the reviews, how fast are they at getting back to customers with issues? is it compatible with your theme? when was the last update on the plugin, this will denote the amount of care and attention the author has on his plugin.
The Ugly!
There are always unscrupulous people that are making plugins available for free, these will usually but not always contain the following-
- malicious code
- SQL injection vulnerabilities (giving attackers full access to your database)
- XSS (cross site scripting) vulnerabilities
- CSRF (cross site request forgery)
- inefficient coding that seriously damages website performance or server stability
The rule of “THUMB”
Always get the plugin from the wordpress directory, as each plugin on there has to meet with wordpress’ stringent security policy.
Ensure it is compatible with your Theme.
Ask yourself a question is there another way to add this functionality without this plugin?
Before we add the plugin to our site-
We try out the plugin first on a local installation of WordPress.
We check out its usability, its adaptability and its functionality – does it do what the label says!
and will it give your website that UNBELIEVABLE success that you so desire for your site.
As we’ve tried and tested new plugins on my own website, you’ve likely noticed new pieces and parts popping up on our pages—slideups, social share buttons, CTAs, and more. We get asked quite often about which plugins we use. So we thought we’d share!
Below is the list of plugins that GeckoGrafix use as a standard on all installs of their Genesis Sites, along with a couple of others that are on our “to-try” list.
SEO
Genesis comes with fantastic SEO already incorporated into its framework but incase you are more familiar with the market leader 3rd parties one then you cant go past.
Yoast SEO– The first true all-in-one SEO solution for WordPress, including on-page content analysis, XML sitemaps and much more.
Schema – The next generation of Structured Data.
Anti Spam & Security
Akismet Anti-Spam – Used by millions, Akismet is quite possibly the best way in the world to protect your blog from spam. Your site is fully configured and being protected, even while you sleep.
BackWPup – WordPress Backup Plugin
Bad Behavior – Deny automated spambots access to your PHP-based Web site.
Maintenance – Take your website for maintenance away from public view. Use maintenance plugin if your website is in development or you need to change a few things, run an upgrade. Make it only accessible by login and password. Plugin has a options to add a logo, background, headline, message, colors, login, etc. Extended PRO with more features version is available for purchase.
Stop Spam Comments – Dead simple and super lightweight anti-spambot plugin. No captcha, tricky questions or any other user interaction required at all.
Social, Sharing
Better Click To Tweet – Add Click to Tweet boxes simply and elegantly to your posts or pages. All the features of a premium plugin, for FREE!
Easy Twitter Feed Widget – Add twitter feeds on your WordPress site by using the Easy Twitter Feed Widget plugin.
Genesis eNews Extended – Replaces the Genesis eNews Widget to allow easier use of additional mailing services.
Google Analytics Dashboard for WP – Displays Google Analytics Reports and Real-Time Statistics in your Dashboard. Automatically inserts the tracking code in every page of your website.
Jetpack by WordPress.com – Bring the power of the WordPress.com cloud to your self-hosted WordPress. Jetpack enables you to connect your blog to a WordPress.com account to use the powerful features normally only available to WordPress.com users.
JM Twitter Cards – Meant to help users to implement and customize Twitter Cards easily.
MailPoet Newsletters – Create and send newsletters or automated emails. Capture subscribers with a widget. Import and manage your lists. MailPoet is a sweet plugin maintained and supported with love.
Ninja Forms – Ninja Forms is a webform builder with unparalleled ease of use and features.
Popups – WordPress Popup – Most complete free Popups plugin, scroll triggered popups, compatible with social networks, Gravity Forms, Ninja Forms, Contact form 7, Mailpoet, Mailchimp for WP, Postmatic, etc
Simple Social Icons – A simple CSS and SVG-driven social icons widget.
Functionality
Advanced Code Editor – Enables syntax highlighting in the integrated themes and plugins source code editors with line numbers, AutoComplete and much more. Supports PHP, HTML, CSS and JS.
Genesis Sandbox Featured Content Widget – Based on the Genesis Featured Widget Amplified for additional functionality which allows support for custom post types, taxonomies, and extends the flexibility of the widget via action hooks to allow the elements to be re-positioned or other elements to be added.
Genesis Visual Hook Guide – Find Genesis hooks (action and filter hooks) quick and easily by seeing their actual locations inside your theme.
PDF Embedder – Embed PDFs straight into your posts and pages, with flexible width and height. No third-party services required.
Regenerate Thumbnails – Allows you to regenerate all thumbnails after changing the thumbnail sizes.
SiteOrigin Widgets Bundle – A collection of all widgets, neatly bundled into a single plugin. It’s also a framework to code your own widgets on top of.
Sliding Widgets – Sliding Widgets – WordPlress Plugin to create sliding widget area dynamically.
Testimonial Rotator – A handy plugin for WordPress developers to add testimonials to their site. Enough functionality to be helpful and also stays out of your way.
WordPress FAQ Manager – Uses custom post types and taxonomies to manage an FAQ section for your site.
WP Retina 2x – Make your website look beautiful and crisp on modern displays by creating + displaying retina images. WP 4.4 is also supported and enhanced.
This is by no way an exhausted list and not all of these are put into every site that we do, as every site needs its own functionality and has its own direction with its own demographic.
There are currently 49,767 different plugins so the opportunity is boundless with finding what you need to get that job done fast and secure.
Always update your plugins when notified and if a particular plugin has bought you untold amounts of joy, then please don’t forget to give generously to the author, a small coffee donation is always welcome.
