So you purchased a hosting for your new WordPress blog. But, you don’t know where to start? And, you don’t know anything about technical stuff. May be all that you know is just how to write a great content. If all of these is true for you then you have come to the right place.
Only setting up a WordPress blog is not enough. Plugins add additional functionalities that makes your blog ready. It makes it ready for search engines as well as for overall appearance to its readers.
There are some plugins which you should straight away install. That is because it is needed in most of the WordPress blogs. I will be discussing these useful plugins below. However, there are more than one of such kinds for most of them.
There are multiple plugins which do the same thing. Its because they have different authors. The list below discusses few of the important ones. So lets start.
7 useful plugins that every new WordPress blog should have
Yoast SEO
Yoast SEO is the best SEO plugin for WordPress blogs. It optimizes your blog in every possible sphere. There are many plugins for search engine optimization. However, Yoast SEO is packed with powerful features. Most importantly its updated regularly. So you don’t miss out any opportunity to rank your blog posts.
It controls every minute details which one needs to take care of while doing SEO for their blog. You can generate XML sitemap for your blog using this plugin. So you don’t need extra plugin. Apart from this, you can also control things like how your post should appear in search results.
Insert Headers and Footers
Insert Headers and Footers is another favorite plugin in my list. Again there are other plugins too which do the same thing as this one. However, I like it because of its simplicity. So why this is on must have list?
Well, that is because there are some codes that all of us add in the header and footer section of our blog’s theme. Codes like meta tags for webmaster verification or Google Analytics codes. We don’t change them often. But, we do change our blog’s theme often. So this plugin takes care of that part.
You will not have add them again and again. It will sit there always no matter what WordPress theme you choose for your blog.
All in one Favicon
All in one Favicon is another WordPress plugin which I recommend for every new blog. While some may say its not the important one, I partly agree with them. But, just like your blog needs logo, it needs a favicon too. And, this plugins makes it very easy for you.
You don’t have mess with any code for favicon to appear in web browser. Just upload an image of 16X16 pixels and it takes care of the rest. It can show on all of your blog pages and WordPress admin area too. Moreover, it supports gif, png, ico types of favicon.
Rel Nofollow Checkbox
Rel Nofollow Checkbox is another small plugin on the must have list. As a blogger, all of us have the habit of sharing external links. Most of the time, you add them to link back for more information on the topic. However, in SEO point of view; it is bad if you overdo it.
Your blog may get penalized by search engines if you link too much to external websites. So this simple plugin adds a small checkbox every time you add external link to your website. It adds a simple rel attribute with “nofollow” as value. Whenever search engines sees nofollow, it will not follow the link.
Advanced Excerpt
Advanced Excerpt is a yet another plugin which you may not want to miss. It customizes the default post excerpt that is created by WordPress. You can control the number of words or characters that you want it to show.
The default ones are usually of only one or one and half sentences. But, you can control the length using this plugin. Also, you can easily add “read more” link and customize its text. It also makes sure that the cuts are not ugly and either full sentence or words are shown.
Apart from this, you can enable and disable it in various parts of your WordPress blog.
Simple Custom CSS
Simple Custom CSS is a great way to override the default CSS of a WordPress theme or plugin. When it comes to CSS, all of us have different taste. This plugin allows you to test various CSS modifications without changing the original code.
It is very useful for a new WordPress blog as generally its difficult to play with a new WordPress theme. To avoid messing up with the code or to keep certain changes after an update, you may use it.
Better WordPress Minify
Better WordPress Minify is needed because your post rankings in search engines are now influenced by page loading speed too. This plugin removes all the white spaces in CSS and JS files. A lot of them come from themes, plugins or the WordPress itself.
It combines them so that the page loads faster. If you are using content delivery network then it supports that too. However, if you are not very techie then don’t mess with the settings. Installing it should be just fine.
WordPress plugins are quicker way to fix all sort of complexities that arise while blogging. A lot of tasks are sorted by installing them.
If you are the one who manages multiple WordPress blog then you can consider installing all of the above. Also, don’t forget to mention your favorite ones in the comments below.