I have worked with WordPress since 2010 (9 years). Over the years I have used hundreds of WordPress plugins. Some good and some just amazing!! Plugins are developed by people from all around the world! And not really monitored. Therefore need to be checked regularly to make sure they are safe and functional.
Here’s my list of the 9 best WordPress plugins for 2019
1.Classic Editor
If you are familiar with WordPress you will know about the new post/page editor. Which I don’t like to be honest!
To get the editor back the way it was before the update. You can install the classic editor plugin. This plugin will restore the previous (“classic”) WordPress editor.
The Classic Editor will be supported until 2022 or longer if necessary.
How the plugin works
- Type the name into the plugin section of your site.
- Install and activate.
- When you go to a page, you will see the classic editor back again.
- That’s it!
Click here to view – https://en-au.wordpress.org/plugins/classic-editor/
2.UpdraftPlus WordPress Backup Plugin
Every site needs a backup plugin. This plugin is by far the best one I know. I use it on all my client’s sites.
All hosting companies should back up your site on a daily basis. But you can’t rely on hosting alone. To safeguard your data, you should also have a backup plugin installed.
How the plugin works
- Type the name into the plugin section of your site.
- Install and activate the plugin.
- Go to the settings and schedule a weekly backup.
- Keep 2 copies.
- Then save!
- That’s it. Now you will have your own backup system in place.
You can also use this plugin if you need to make a random backup before updating WordPress or adding or deleting old plugins.
Click here to view – https://en-au.wordpress.org/plugins/updraftplus/
3.Google Analytics
Google Analytics is a great way to track your site and figure out the best marketing strategy based on the data you collect. Google can track things like; how many visitors you have, where they are coming from, what pages they are looking at. And much more.
How the plugin works
- Type the name into the plugin section of your site.
- Install and activate the plugin.
- Go to the settings and connect to Google Analytics.
- Then save!
- If you go to the WordPress Dashboard you will notice a new section for Google Analytics.
- Wait a few days for the plugin to show the data from your GA account.
- See image below.
Click here to view – https://en-au.wordpress.org/plugins/googleanalytics/
4.WP Rocket
Having a fast site is crucial! There are some free plugins for this, but if you really want a plugin that’s reliable and improves the speed. WP Rocket is one of the best!
This is a premium low-cost plugin. $59 US dollars. And worth every cent!
How the plugin works
- Purchase first.
- Then, upload the zip file to your plugin section.
- Install and activate the plugin.
- Go to the settings > WP Rocket
- Click here for the default settings.
- Recommended by WP Rocket.
- Then test your site to make sure its faster.
- Go to tools.pingdom.com to test.
- If there is still an issue with the speed of your site.
- Contact the support team at WP Rocket and they can help!
Click here to view – https://wp-rocket.me/
5. 404page – your smart custom 404 error page
A 404 error means a visitor has tried to visit a page that is no longer there. This returns a 404 error. Google, is notified about 404 errors. And having a lot of these is no good for your site’s reputation. Having a plugin means you can set up a custom 404 error page to display when this happens. Making your site more user-friendly. Which Google loves!
How to set up the plugin
- Type the name into the plugin section of your site.
- Install and activate the plugin.
- Go to Pages and create a custom 404 error page.
- It could include some text like:
“Oops, this page is no longer available. Please view our most popular pages below.” - See our website for example – https://www.letsbuildawebsite.com.au/404-page/
- Once this page is created.
- Go the plugin’s settings under the Appearance panel > 404 Error Page.
- Choose the page you created for the 404 error and then Save. See image below.
- So now if someone goes to a page that doesn’t exist, they will see this page. Problem solved!
Click here to view – https://en-au.wordpress.org/plugins/404page/
6. Imagify
Google will not rank your website well if it loads slowly. And having big images in your site, contribute to this. This plugin helps reduce the image file size. Generally speaking, all images should be under 100KB. Logo’s even smaller.
How to set it up
- Type the name into the plugin section of your site.
- Install and activate.
- Go to the Settings panel.
- Select between Normal or Aggressive mode. This depends on how big your images are.
- Select > Auto-Optimize images on upload. See image below.
- This will optimise all images now when you load them into the site.
- But in saying this, make sure you don’t load images bigger than around 2MB anyway.
- As the plugin will not accept these images.
- Plus having too many big images in your Media library will take up your hosting storage. Which you pay for.
- Now, if you already have a lot of big images on your site.
- This plugin is great for performing bulk optimisation.
- Go to the Media library > then Bulk Optimization
- Click on the big blue button – called IMAGEIF’EM ALL. See image below.
- If your images are bigger than 2 MB then you will have to purchase the upgrade of the plugin to do this.
- Which is worth it if you have a lot of huge images.
- Otherwise, you have to manually optimise your images.
Click here to view – https://en-au.wordpress.org/plugins/imagify/
7. Monarch – Social Media plugin
The Monarch plugin is used for Social Sharing and Social Follow.
- Social Sharing – is important to allow visitors to share your content. Sharing content helps build traffic to your site and create backlinks naturally.
- Social Follow – is displayed on your site, to allow visitors to follow you. To receive news and updates about your business. Again this helps bring traffic and market your business.
How to set up the plugin
This is a premium plugin. So you need to purchase this from Elegant Themes first.
- Then upload the plugin to your WordPress plugins section.
- Install and activate.
- Go to the Tools panel > then click on Monarch.
To set up the Social Sharing
- Click on the Locations section.
- Choose the Sidebar layout. This will add the social icons to the side of the page. See image below.
- I think this is the best one. As visitors can see the icons straight away. No need to look for them!
- Then click on the Networks section.
- Add networks that you think the visitors on your site will use (NOT what you use).
- For example; Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn are the most common. See image below.
- Then save.
- Next, go to the Sidebar section. See image below.
- Go to the Display Settings section.
- Go to – Sidebar Orientation > choose Left
- Uncheck – Display Share Counts (if you don’t want to show this).
- Uncheck – Display Total Shares (if you don’t want to show this).
- Save.
To set up the Follow icons
- Click on the Social Follow section.
- Add the Social Media you have accounts for.
- Example: Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram. See image below.
- Add the URL for these accounts.
- Get this by visiting your Social Media accounts and copying the URL from the web browser.
- Save.
- See image below.
- Go to the Widget section within the Monarch plugin.
- We just need to change some settings to make it look nicer on the site. See image below.
- Go to Icon Placement > choose Left.
- Go to > Choose Number of Columns > choose Auto Width.
- Uncheck – Display Follower Counts, Display Total Followers, Display Network Names
- Save.
Adding the Social Icons to the Footer or Sidebar on the site
- Go to the Appearance panel and then Widgets.
- Add the Monarch Widget to the Footer and/or Sidebar to show your Social Media Icons.
Click here to view – https://www.elegantthemes.com/plugins/
8. WP-Chatbot by MobileMonkey
Ok, I have just added this plugin as I feel everyone uses Messenger or can access it easily enough if they need to. Furthermore having an easy and super convenient way for visitors to contact you via your website is a necessity. Which I would highly recommend.
WP-Chatbot (by MobileMonkey) allows visitors to chat with you from your website via Facebook Messenger. It’s perfect for support and helping your visitors with questions related to your products or services.
Visit the MobileMonkey’s website to view more details and what’s on offer if you buy the Pro version.
How to set up the plugin
- Type the name into the plugin section of your site.
- Install and activate.
- Go to the WP-Chatbot plugin panel.
- Click the button to connect to your Facebook page. See image below.
- Select the options for your business page.
- Save.
Click here to view – https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-chatbot/
9. Yoast SEO
SEO or Search Engine Optimisation can be complex if you are unsure of how to set it up or how to start. The Yoast plugin gives you a very good guide on how to add SEO per page. I would definitely recommend all WordPress websites to have this plugin.
How to set up the plugin
- Type the name into the plugin section of your site.
- Install and activate.
- Follow the Yoast Beginners Guide below.
- https://yoast.com/beginners-guide-yoast-seo/
- We offer one on one SEO training to help set up Yoast.
Click here to view – https://en-au.wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-seo/
To sum up the [9] best WordPress plugins for 2019!
There are so many great WordPress plugins. And I couldn’t possibly write about all of them. There are too many!!
So I hope this helps you choose some of the most popular and useful plugins for your WordPress site. If you have any more amazing plugins to add to my list, please include them in the comments below.
