You have your WordPress site setup and ready to go.  Now what?  It is time to do a little housekeeping.  In this blog post, I’m going to tell you WordPress plugins you need to install before you even write your first post.  I’ve also included a quick video tutorial showing how to install a WordPress plugin.

If you are reading this post and you have not installed WordPress, take a look at one of my previous blog posts which provides a detailed tutorial on how to set up a WordPress blog.  If you have completed that tutorial then keep reading.

Note: This page contains affiliate links, which means that if you buy something using one of the links below, I may earn a commission.

WordPress Plugins You Need to Install

Akismet Anti-Spam

As the name suggests, the Akismet Anti-Spam plugin protests your WordPress site from spam. This is one of the first plugins that you want to install, as it starts to protect your site before you publish your first post.  Akismet blocks both malicious login attempts and spam comments.  With Akismet installed, your site is protected against spam attempts that you don’t know are occurring.  However, you’ll be presented with a running tally of blocked malicious login attempts and blocked spam comments.

Click here to visit the Akismet Anti-Spam plugin home page

Jetpack by WordPress.com

Jetpack is a WordPress plugin with tons of useful features.  It secures your site, helps you increase your traffic, and also helps you enhance your content.  Jetpack has both free and paid features.  However, unlike some plugins, Jetpack’s free features provide tons of value.  Some of my favorite Jetpack features include:

• Site Stats & Analytics
• Downtime and uptime monitoring – Jetpack will email you if your site goes offline!
• Extra sidebar widgets including blog stats, calendar, and author widgets

These are just a few of Jetpacks free features.  Paid features include:

• Search engine optimization tools for Google, Bing, Twitter, Facebook, and WordPress.com
• Malware scanning, code scanning, and threat resolution
• Site backups, restores, and migrations

Click here to visit the Jetpack by WordPress.com plugin homepage.

W3 Total Cache

W3 Total Cache improves the performance of your site.  This provides a better experience for your visitors as well as increases your site’s ranking in search engines.  W3 Total Cache’s features are a little on the technical side, however, a beginner can easily install and activate the plugin and take advantage of its site performance benefits.

Click here to visit the W3 Total Cache plugin homepage.

WP Smush

WP Smush is an image optimization and compression plugin.  Basically it “smushes” your images so that they load faster resulting in your site performing better.  WP Smush both resizes and optimizes your images all without jeopardizing image quality.  Most site owners are not aware of how images are dragging down the speed of their pages.  By installing the WP Smush plugin at the beginning of your journey you will never have to worry about unoptimized images.

Click here to visit the WP Smush plugin homepage.

Yoast SEO

Yoast SEO is one of my favorite WordPress plugins.  It is definitely on the list of WordPress plugins you need to install.  It helps you improve your site’s Search Engine Optimization (SEO).  The beauty behind Yoast SEO is that it integrates with WordPress in a way that guides you seamlessly into SEO best practices without you really having to focus on it.  Yoast SEO guides you to write better content focused around chosen keywords.  The plugin provides a user-friendly stoplight interface that lets you know if you are meeting certain criteria.  This allows you to easily correct any errors.

Here is an example of a sample Yoast SEO analysis for a blog post:

Click here to visit the Yoast SEO plugin homepage.

Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a plugin that allows you to add Google Analytics to your WordPress site.  It can be complicated to install and this plugin makes it simple.  Once you connect Google Analytics to your site, you will have access to statistics such as how many visitors come to your site and how they found your site.  Click here to read a previous blog post on why you need Google Analytics.

I must mention that there are many Google Analytics plugins available.  One of the most used versions is Google Analytics Plugin by MonsterInsights.

Click here to visit the Google Analytics Plugin by MonsterInsights homepage.

How to Install a WordPress Plugin

Now that I have given you the WordPress plugins you need to install, I thought it might be helpful to give you a quick tutorial on how to install these plugins.

WordPress plugins are quick and easy to install.  Take a look at the following video tutorial:

Thanks for reading!

Leave a comment and let me know if you found this post helpful.  Also let me know how you liked the quick video tutorial.

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