WordPress Plug-ins You Need to Install

RIGHT NOWNew Media Journalism & Public Relations

What’s a Plugin?• Small app that performs

specialized functions.

• You can’t manage the site well without them.

• Search for and install via Plugins tab

Install these plugins NOW.

Jetpack• One-stop shop for TONS of cool

plugins

• Installs immediately with WordPress

• Comes with video tutorials for each feature

Jetpack• Recommended:

• Site Verification - Verifies site w/search engines

• Publicize - Enables auto-sharing via Social Media

• Custom Content Types - Organizes content types, in addition to posts and pages

• WordPress.com Stats - Provides basic analytics

• Subscriptions - Enables email subscriptions

• Sharing - Enables ‘Share’ buttons on content

• Related Posts - Displays links to related content under each post

• Spelling & Grammar - Spell checker!

• Extra Sidebar Widgets - Enables Twitter, Facebook Like, Image and other widgets

WordPress SEO by Yoast• Creator: Joost de Valk

• Plugin checks each post for optimization

• Conditions you to think about SEO.

• Also helps with your writing.

Wordfence Security• Monitors your site for any funny

business

• Automated security scan

• Simple one-button scan feature

• Email alerts

• Login attempts from people who are not you

• Plugin Updates

Akismet• Recommended for install with

WordPress (like JetPack)

• Anti-Spam plug-in

• Install this right away.

• Get a WordPress key from Kismet and connect your site using the plugin.

• Akismet guides you through the process.

Backup Wordpress• Creator: Human Made Limited

• Because you never know

Google Analytics by Yoast• Connects your site to your Google

Analytics account with a few simple clicks.

• Made by the same guy who makes SEO for WordPress.

• Coming soon: Analytics on your WordPress Dashboard

• But in the meantime…

Google Analytics Dashboard for WP

• Google Analytics plugin doesn’t show analytics on your WordPress Dashboard.

• This plugin does.

You might want to think about installing these

plugins too.

Social Media Widget• Creator: Blink Web Effects

• Creates a widget where you can put your site’s social media links

• Make sure the accounts are set up (More on that in a bit)

• Click here: https://wordpress.org/plugins/social-media-widget/screenshots/

• May be unnecessary if your theme already includes Social media buttons

WP Smush.it• Sometimes images you take are

too big to upload to WordPress.

• This plugin compresses those images automatically.

• Saves you space and loading time.

Optional plugins

Admin Management Xtended

• Quickly edit and manage metadata

• Toggle visibility of posts

• Make a post “sticky” on your home page.

• Change numerous other small but helpful options

TinyMCE Advanced• Adds more buttons to the Visual

Editor toolbar

• Alignment, font, tables, etc.

• Helps add some Word-like qualities to your text.

SNAP• Social Network Auto Poster by

NextScripts

• Automatically posts to your social networks.

• Allows you to customize those messages as well.

NextGEN Gallery• Allows you to embed well-

designed galleries from photos.

Disqus• Comment system

• Threaded comments

• Notifications by email

Facebook• Use Facebook’s official plugin

• Make sure your Facebook Fan Page is set up first

• Set up Likes, Shares, and Recommendations.

• NICE OPTION: Use Facebook to administer Comments

• Make sure you deactivate WordPress Comments if you want only Facebook to administer them.

Contact Form• Creates easy, no-frills Contact

page.

TablePress• Creates embeddable tables

• Table features can be customized

Blubrry• Podcasting plugin

• Includes player

• Enables iTunes compatibility

• One-stop shop if you do podcasts.

Post Type Switcher• Switch between pages, posts,

media, topic, replies, etc.

• If you put your posts as pages (tsk tsk), this will fix that.

Always update your pluginsDouble-check your site and update plugins every time.

Click the button and perform all updates.