WordPress has become one of the most popular frameworks for creating internet websites.
In large part this is because it’s free, stable and well supported by an active community of developers and volunteers.
The exact number of users is impossible to calculate, however based on WordPress there are currently more than fifty million websites running on the WordPress platform.
Even without any add-ons or customization, WordPress probably already does most of what you want it to do for your website.
But perhaps there are functions or features that you think would be useful or entertaining for your readers and that might boost traffic to your website.
Thankfully, it’s likely that someone has wanted a similar function or feature before you and that there’s one or more WordPress “plug-ins” to address the need.
What Is A Plug-In?
A “plug-in” is a file (or set of files) of computer code that you can download and add to your WordPress blog to extend your blog’s functionality.
For example, you might want to display pop-up slideshows of a set of pictures that you have on your blog. WordPress itself can’t do this directly, but there are a number of plug-ins that can easily provide your blog with this capability.
Other plug-ins can also optimize your blog without any significant time or cash expense to you.
If you currently have advertisers on your blog, there are a number of plug-ins that permit you to track their performance, customize how you display those ads, the order in which the ads are displayed and a number of other functions.
For “back-end” optimization, in order to make sure that your blog posts are as clean as possible from a grammar and stylistic perspective, consider using plug-ins such as “After the Deadline”.
This plug-in provides a much more detailed grammar and style check than the standard WordPress function.
There’s really a plug-ins to address just about any particular need!
Finding Plug-Ins
The best place to search for plug-ins is the WordPress plug-in directory.
Not all plug-in authors submit their plug-ins to the WordPress directory. An internet search will yield additional options. Keep in mind, however, that when you look for plug-ins on the WordPress directory you can see what other users are saying about the plug-in.
For example, how well it works, whether they have had any problems, etc. It’s good practice to read some of these reviews before installing any plug-in on your site.
Also, after you install each plug-in make sure to load your blog and test it as if you were a website visitor.
Verify that things are working as expected. Do this each time you install a new plug-in, so that if there are any problems you can easily isolate which plug-in is causing them.
Finally, make sure that you update all of your plug-ins as frequently as necessary.
WordPress is a constantly evolving framework and therefore your plug-ins will evolve with it. Simply make sure to check the updates portion of your dashboard every time you log in.
Keeping your plug-ins up to date will ensure that your website continues to run optimally!
I hope you’ve found this information to be helpful and if so I’d love to hear from you! Please let me know what is the one tip you received from this post that you think will help you in your business the most by sharing your thoughts in the comments section below.
If you have any additional questions about starting your business or need assistance with expanding or marketing your business, please feel free leave me a comment or post it on my Facebook Page and I’ll try to assist you in any way I can!
Have an awesome day!
Pam Lawhorne
Thanks for the post I use wordpress.com I didn’t think you could use plugins on the free version of it. I will now go back and check. I am trying to learn so much about blogging and getting links back to me at the moment to give me more exposure to my online store. thanks for breaking down these posts I find it easier to do it step by step than with too much info in one post
Nicola
Hi Nicola!
Let me clarify – you can not use plug-ins with WordPress.com sites. When I said it was free, I meant there was no cost to add WordPress to your hosting account since it’s an open source software. Here’s more details on what you can and can not do with WordPress sites.
Have you considered switching over to WordPress.org? It’s not that difficult and you will get access to a ton more for your site!
Pam
Hi
I have considered switching but I am so new at blogging and still trying to learn, that I have been a little unsure about it. I know I have to blog in order to draw attention to my website, but lucky enough I found I really enjoy it.
I am going to check out the link you included and let you know how I get on.. Thanks for taking the time to answer.
Nicola
Nicola -
You are more than welcome!
Hope that helps and my apologies for the confusion!
Pam
I want to share a plugin, I came to know today.
Some people did not setup gravator, For those you can use your blog’s logo, instead of predefined avators. To do this, you can use, “add new default avatar” plugin, this is in fact a good one.
Hi Ross!
Thanks. This is great. I hate when people post and they don’t have a picture. Sort of a pet peeve of mines! ;o)
I appreciate you sharing! Very timely huh?
Pam
Great article Pam, just opened a whole new horizon for WordPress blogs!
Thanks so much Corri! Glad you liked it!
Pam
Pam, these plugins and your guidance are really useful for anyone who is interests in enhancing the effectiveness of their word press blog site. Yes, it is not difficult to find plugins that suit our requirements is not very difficult. Thanks a lot for the article.
Thanks Anjana!
I use a ton of plug-ins to operate my website. I actually probably use too many! ;o)
Pam