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Five Important WordPress Plugins for a New Client's Site

One of the benefits of designing a website with WordPress is the platform's adaptability. WordPress can be used to create high-traffic blogs, money-making machines, and company websites that generate leads. Even then, there are so many possible paths to go.

This is largely due to WordPress plugins.

Instead of devoting all of your effort to create every feature from scratch (or sacrificing some functionality because you don't know how to do it), you install reliable plugins to handle the heavy lifting.

But when it comes to crucial plugins, what exactly are we discussing? Because, for example, an ecommerce website need plugins to handle payments and add product variations. This may be essential for ecommerce sites but is not required for other sorts of websites.

Consequently, We will focus on five WordPress plugins that every website should have installed:

wordpress cloud plugins
wordpress seo

Yoast SEO

Many of the decisions you make as a web designer for a new client's website will affect its success in search engines (i.e. how well it ranks). However, you cannot do it on your own.

Yoast SEO is a plugin that allows you and your clients to optimize the website's language and pages. But there's more.

One of the best features of the Yoast SEO plugin is that it addresses so many essential SEO aspects:

  • XML sitemap creation
  • Search engine appearance enhancement
  • Keyword enhancement
  • SEO evaluation and advice
  • Analysis of readability and suggestions
  • Internal link study

Additionally, Yoast has recently added integrations with SEMrush and Ryte to assist WordPress users in selecting more effective keywords.

wordpress security plugin

iThemes Security

According to Sucuri's most recent report on hacked websites, WordPress sites continue to be the primary targets for cybercriminals. It makes logic when you give it some thought. WordPress is the most popular content management system on the planet, and its weaknesses are well-known. Why, therefore, wouldn't cybercriminals choose the easy route?

The fact that WordPress is a target does not mean that your clients' websites must fall victim to hackers. Here are your options:

A site's comprehensive security should always include server-side safeguards, such as a firewall and an SSL certificate. This should be your primary defense.

However, you should also install a security plugin to assist protect against WordPress's vulnerabilities.

iThemes Security is an excellent option due to its comprehensive coverage. In fact, as soon as the plugin is loaded, it begins analyzing your site and executing all of the necessary security procedures, including:

  • Strong enforcement of password policies
  • Forceful protection
  • File change tracking
  • Security key administration
  • Database backups
  • The Pro edition provides increased security and proactive monitoring.
wordpress backup plugin

UpdraftPlus

Security and backups go hand in hand. One cannot exist without the other.

I've also heard the argument that you don't need a backup plugin if your web server creates backups for you, but I disagree.

Because I believe in failover, I'm adamant about using a WordPress backup plugin. You should always have a backup plan or system in place for everything you do, including backups for backups, because it is impossible to predict when a component of your business will become inoperable or be lost.

With UpdraftPlus, you have complete control over how frequently and where your website is backed up.

In addition, you do not need to enter into your web host's control panel to restore a previous version of your website. It is an instantaneous process within WordPress.

wordpress optimize plugin

WP-Optimize

WordPress is infamous for more than just its security issues. It has also earned a reputation for being an extremely slow CMS.

According to a Backlinko research on page speed, WordPress is among the CMS with the slowest average loading speeds:

In contrast to other plugins, WP-Optimize addresses speed from all perspectives, as opposed to focusing solely on caching or image optimization. Its swift features include of:

  • Website caching minification of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript
  • Image compression
  • Gzip compression
  • Database maintenance

Additionally, it connects with UpdraftPlus, allowing you to instantly create a backup of your site prior to performing cleanup. You can also schedule cleanup and optimization, relieving you of this responsibility.

wordpress contact form

WPForms

There are some pages and features that must be present on any website. For example, the Contact page and contact form are non-negotiable.

The contact form is a quick, simple, and convenient way for website visitors to communicate with the website's administrators.

Because it plays such an important part in online communication, you must exercise caution while selecting a plugin for your contact form.

Among the dozen or so I've experimented with over the years, WPForms is the clear victor for a number of reasons.

  • If you wish to reduce the time required to build new ones, there are templates accessible.
  • The plugin generates stylish and user-friendly forms.
  • Using the visual drag-and-drop builder, you and your clients can effortlessly edit the form.
  • You have extensive control over the appearance and functionality of the form's fields.
  • CAPTCHA and a honeypot are included as anti-spam measures.

With an update, you can automate a large number of commercial processes on your websites, such as accepting payments, receiving file submissions, and conducting surveys.

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