Are you not sure how to choose the right WordPress plugins for your website?
WordPress plugins are simply extensions that allow you to add additional features to your website. These plugins can improve your website’s functionality and make it run better. It’s important that you choose the right plugin for you website.
There are thousands upon thousands of plugins out there, both free and paid. It is not easy to pick the best.
But don’t be alarmed! Here are 10 essential tips that will help you select the best WordPress plug-ins for your site. Let’s get started.
Why use plugins for your WordPress website
First, it is important to understand WordPress plugins. Check out this article to learn all you need about WordPress plugins.
Let’s examine some of these points in order to better understand why plugins should be used on WordPress sites.
Extension of functionality: As mentioned earlier, the most important aspect of the WordPress plugin is to improve the functionality of your website. This adds extra functionality to your WordPress site and improves its overall functionality.
Meet Future Requirements WordPress plugins will help you meet the future requirements of your website. You can quickly install a WordPress plugin to add new features to your site.
Integrate Site With Other Tools and Platforms. Plugins are also useful for integrating your website with different tools and platforms. You can, for example, link your website to social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and so on using social media plug-ins.
Now that we’ve discussed the utility of a WordPress plugin on your site, let us take a look what factors to consider when choosing one.
10 Things to Consider in Choosing the Best WordPress Plugins
Here are 10 suggestions to help you select the best WordPress plugins. Let’s get into detail.
1. Decide Your Website Niche
First, decide the niche of your website. A website that sells products or services, such as an eCommerce site, a business website, blog, etc. Once you have identified the type of plugin your website needs, you will be able to determine what kind.
There are many WordPress plug-ins for almost every niche. You can find the WordPress plugin directory. We’ve selected some of our favorite plugins.
WooCommerce is an eCommerce plugin. It’s a popular WordPress plugin.
Plugins that are best for business: The Everest Farms WordPress plugin is best for creating drag and drop forms in WordPress and adding contact forms.
Blog Website Plugin: Easy Social Share is a WordPress plugin for publishing your blog posts to a wider audience on social media.
You will also find many plugins that are compatible with any website. These plugins will be useful for sites that come from anywhere. Some of these plugins are:
Caching plugins W3 Total Cache, WPSuperCache can be used to track your website and speed it up.
- SEO plugins – Yoast SEO, SEMRush for SEO optimization of your website.
- Security plugins for websites: Akismet Security, iThemes Security.
- Jetpack plugin is all-in-one. This plugin will improve your website’s security, performance and speed.
2. Updates & Compatibility
You must also verify the plugin’s last update date. The plugin developers will regularly update a well-maintained plug-in. These updates make the plugin compatible to the latest WordPress version.
You can find the WordPress Plugins Repository page to view the current plugin update date. The latest update date can be found in the “Detail” section.
When you choose a plugin, make sure to check the last updated date
Before you install any plugin, check to make sure that it is compatible and up-to-date.
3. Customer Reviews
You can check customer reviews when you choose a plugin
Look for reviews from customers before you make a decision about a WordPress plugin. It shows the opinions of actual users of the plugin. The reviews can help you determine whether customers had a pleasant user experience. This also allows you to assess the quality and functionality of the plugin.
You can easily find reviews and ratings for the free plugins in the official WordPress plug directory. If you go to a plugin’s description page on the WordPress site, you will see its ratings right on your screen. You can also click the ‘See All’ option to view the complete review.
Free Ratings on Plugins
You can also see ratings and reviews on premium plugins by visiting the official plugin pages.
You can view reviews and customer ratings about Everest Forms. For instance, you can visit their official page. Scroll down until the bottom to find the review section.
Premium Plugin Reviews
4. Active Installation
A plugin’s active installs can help you determine its popularity as well as its usefulness. It’s a good idea that a plugin is widely used on different WordPress websites. You can also choose to go with the plugin that has more active installs.
You can check the number active installs of plugins by visiting the plugin’s WordPress.org repository. For stats, simply look to the right of your plugin description webpage.
Choose Plugins Based upon Active Installs
The active installation stats can be found on the official website of paid plugins, just as you can view reviews and ratings.
5. Documentation and Support
When selecting a plugin, make sure you have support
It’s important to find out what support plugins offer their customers. On the official WordPress plugin repository’s plugin page sidebar, you will find a support forum that allows users to request free plugins. Here you can see how many support topics have been opened for a particular plugin and how many have been resolved in the past two month.
Select a plugin that is based on Support Forum
Visit the plugin’s official site to review their customer support. Check out how easy it can be to send a trial email or ask a pre-sales query. After this, you can evaluate if the plug-in offers great support.
Additionally, it is important to review the documentation that the plugin offers. Users will appreciate plugins that provide detailed support. You can find the answers to your questions in the documents.
You can, for example, check out the Everest forms documentation to see if there are any issues getting started.
6. Easy Installation Process
It’s not a good idea to install a plugin that has a complex process. It confuses new users, which leads to them abandoning the idea.
It is important to ensure that you choose a plugin with an easy installation procedure. Check if the plugin includes FAQs, documents, and screenshots to assist you. A plugin should be simple to set up and user-friendly.
7. Pricing
Most WordPress plugins that are used on your website can be downloaded for free. There are times when premium plugins might be necessary. Make sure to choose the right plugins in this case.
Be sure to review the pricing plans before you purchase a WordPress plug-in. Compare its features, price, and support with other plugins. Choose a plugin which offers more features and support for a cheaper price.
8. Look for Other Reviews
The plugin review can be found on other blogs. It is possible to read other blogs about the plugin and assess its quality. There are many plugin users who use their blogs as a way to share reviews. You can also review the plugins in a list article and compare them.
Consider reading other reviews about WordPress plugins and visiting blogs to help you choose the right one. Check out these blogs that are WordPress experts.
- Zakra
- WPEverest
9. Only trustworthy providers will provide plugins
It is important that you code the plugin well so it does not affect your site speed. A poorly coded plugin can slow down WordPress’s performance. It can also slow down your website and lead to errors. Always choose a plugin with a clear code.
To avoid installing a poor-coded plugin, it is a good idea to only download or buy a plugin from trusted sites. There are several places you can find good-coded plugins.
- WordPress.org
- WPEverest
- CodeCanyon
10. Make sure you are aware of security features
You can check the security features and select a plugin
Security features are the next thing you should inspect in a plugin. Around 22% of WordPress sites have been hacked by security problems in a plugin. It is important to protect your plugin from hacking.
To protect your WordPress site, it should include fraud prevention tools. WooCommerce payment services like Stripe or PayPal provide security features to protect your website from fraud and fraudulent transactions.
It is best to only shop at trusted sites to ensure that you are purchasing secure plugins. For free plugins, visit the WordPress.org repository. Shops like CodeCanyon or WPEverest are available for paid plugins. You should never use an out-of-date plugin.
Conclusion
That’s it. These are some tips to help you select the best WordPress plugins that will work for your WordPress site. These tips will help you make the right choice when choosing a WordPress plugin.
We hope you have gained an understanding of what to consider when choosing a WordPress plugin. If you found this article useful please share it to your friends. Leave your valuable suggestions and comments below.