You have just created a new WordPress site and picked out a theme. You may think that you’re ready to launch to the internet but consider adding these 10 Essential WordPress Plugins for 2022. It will make your website 10x better.
The Classic WordPress editor is still the most popular plugin as it maintains the previous version of the post/page editor.
If you’re a long-time user of WordPress, you will already be accustomed to working with the classic editor. We recommend you try the modern version of the WordPress editor, just know that there’s an alternative if you aren’t finding it easy or comfortable to work in.
Yoast SEO is the most popular plugin to help with SEO(Search Engine Optimization) by making sure that your website meets the optimal SEO standards. It will help you optimize your content by targeting your desired keywords.
They offer both a free version and paid version that will provide more premium features to help you rank higher on search engines. We recommend starting with the free version until you start gaining significant website traffic.
Keep your website secured by installing a security plugin. We recommend Wordfence Security which includes a firewall and malware scanner to protect your website from hackers and malicious traffic.
They offer a premium paid version which comes with features like Country Blocking & Real-Time malware signature updates. We recommend the paid version if you’re able to as site security is a serious matter. Once your website is compromised it will take more resources to reclaim it.
This plugin helps with Site Speed Optimization as you want your website to load fast as nobody will want to wait more than 2 seconds for your website to appear.
LiteSpeed Cache will optimize your website files to ensure it loads at its most optimal. If your website is still loading slow, you may consider finding a performance web hosting provider. Check out the Top 3 Canadian-owned Web Hosting in 2022 to explore better hosting options.
Keeping backups of your website is crucial, it’s like having the power to go back in time. If you accidentally break your website when editing the code or installing a malicious plugin, you can revert back to the previous working and secure version of your website and ensure that you don’t make the same mistake that caused your website to break or get hacked.
Always create a backup of your website before making any major changes such as updating the WordPress software or making changes to the theme files.
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Contact forms are essential for any business website as you’d like customers/prospects to have the ability to reach out to learn more about your product or service.
We recommend WPForms as it provides an easy Drag and Drop Form Builder to create custom contact forms which will be forwarded to your email upon any submissions received.
In 2022, you should definitely have an SSL certificate installed on your website to keep user data secured and verify the ownership of your domain. This is crucial for any E-Commerce website as user data will be submitted to your website.
Really Simple SSL makes installing the SSL certificate to your WordPress website easy as it will automatically detect your settings and configure your website to run over HTTPS rather than HTTP.
Elementor is a page builder that allows you to create beautifully designed pages without having any coding experience. It is a drag-and-drop solution that shows your website updates in real-time.
They offer pre-made templates through their Elementor Kit’s Library to further speed up development and have professionally designed pages to fit your brand.
Smush helps with optimizing your images to have them load faster by compressing your images without losing quality. Images take up a lot of bandwidth and we recommend you keep your images optimized to improve your Google Page Speed score which affects your SEO rankings
Easily connect your Google Analytics and Google Search Console accounts with the Site Kit plugin developed by Google. Usually, you would need to know how to work with HTML code to install Google’s tracking tools but this plugin allows you to authorize access directly to your WordPress website.
You’re also able to connect other Google products such as Adsense, PageSpeed Insights, and Tag Manager. This is a completely free plugin.
So those are the 10 Essential WordPress Plugins for 2022. Be sure to keep these plugins updated to ensure that they stay working and secure. If you need help with the upkeep of your website, we offer Web Care Plans starting at $100/month to keep your website updated and secured. If you need any help with your WordPress website, contact us WordPress Experts at MapilitMedia Inc.
