While creating this site I realized that there are few problems that each WordPress site or blog owner has to solve. Since I had faced these problems and solved them with few plugins, I am listing these best WordPress plugins for new blogs to use. Also these are all free! Remember that this post changes frequently as I tend to update it based on what I find and start using. So keep checking frequently. Also if you have any suggestions or recommendations please do share.
Best WordPress Plugins list
Following is the ever changing list of best WordPress plugins that might be a good list for all new bloggers out there.
Best WordPress Social plugins
Every new blog needs a plugin to spread the content to social websites. There are quite a few choices for this. Lets look at the best WordPress social plugins available now.
Socialize Plugin
But after trying out all the top ones I finally found Socialize as one of the best WordPress plugin when it comes to functionality and ease of use.
Best WordPress Backup plugins
Backup is quite an important functionality and using a good plugin for that can help immensely. Lets look at the best WordPress backup plugins available now.
XCloner Plugin
One of the best plugin I found for WordPress blog backups was XCloner. This WordPress plugin is little low on documentation but it is not difficult to figure out what is happening behind the scenes. The steps to restore the site manually was slightly tricky. Here are the steps to restore your site manually if required:
1. Remove everything from last backup under relevant root directory say ~/php/wp/wordpress but donot remove .htaccess
If .htaccess gets deleted then after complete restore goto your restore site say http://192.168.11.150/user/wp/wordpress/ and copy the .htaccess info at bottom of the page and paste in new .htaccess.
2. Copy 3 files into your root directory ~/php/wp/wordpress from your main site : backup file, XCloner.php,TAR.php
3. chmod 777 for all 3 files.
4. Run XCloner.php in your browser. Based on the example goto : http://192.168.11.150/user/wp/wordpress/XCloner.php
5. Fill following details:
Database user : root
Database password : root
Database name : wordpress
6. Now run the restore. Remember that password for wordpress will get overwritten in your backup database with one on main site.
Note: To connect to mysql database in linux to verify your install use command:
mysql -h localhost -u root -proot
Best WordPress Ads Plugins
All old and new blogs need to monetize their effort. Ads plugins can help with that by placing your ads at good positions. Lets look at the best WordPress Ad management plugins available now.
Ad injection
Ad injection is one of the best WordPress plugin out there to help place Ads on your blog. The best part about this plugin is that it allows putting ads in between content or post. This definitely can help boost your revenue. It has a whole lot of other useful features also so check it out.
Best WordPress SEO Plugins
I have tried a lot of plugins here. Even the best ones were not really doing things correctly. Hopefully those bugs would be fixed soon. So for now I went ahead and picked a theme which has SEO built in. I would strongly recommend doing so. There are plenty of such themes (even free ones) and it helps with better management of the content at one place. Lets look at the best WordPress SEO plugins available now.
Yoast plugin
If you cannot find a theme that provides you with SEO, then my recommended option for new blogs is Yoast Plugin.
Best WordPress Related Posts Plugins
These plugins allows blogs to link their posts together. This linking allows users to go from one related post to another. Lets look at the best WordPress related posts plugins available now.
IGIT Plugin
Most basic plugins should really work. I ended up using IGIT plugin.
YARPP Plugin
Recently I found another plugin which could be one of the best out there. It is called Yet Another Related Posts Plugin. The algorithm used to find related posts is much superior when compared to any other plugin. The only thing it lacks is thumbnails. But there are other plugins that can fill in that gap.
Best WordPress Cache Plugins
This plugin may not be needed for new blogs but as a blog grows in size it becomes slower. This happens mostly because there are more database trips due to increase in plugins or just to locate content from large databases. It is therefore advisable to install a caching plugin. Lets look at the best WordPress caching plugins available now.
WordPress super cache plugin
A good caching plugin can considerably increase a site’s speed. WordPress super cache is one such plugin. One best part about this plugin is that it also works great with Ad Injection plugin. This was also votes as best WordPress cache plugin based on many online reviews.
Best WordPress Auto poster plugins
New blogs need visibility. Easiest way to make a new blog visible to internet users is by posting links on social websites.Various mechanisms for posting to social websites are listed here. Lets look at the best WordPress auto poster plugins available now.
Onlywire Auto Poster Plugin
If you would like to post any new content to social websites then WP OnlyWire Auto Poster is best WordPress plugin that I have seen.
Best WordPress Contact form plugins
The purpose of the contact form is quite simple. Therefore I was looking for a very simple and light weight plugin. Lets look at the best WordPress Contact form plugins available now.
Contact form with captcha plugin
Since I could not find a good option for this I wrote this plugin. In my mind CFWC is one of the best plugins when compared to others for functionality and weight (very light weight).
Best WordPress XML sitemap plugins
XML sitemaps are very important from SEO perspective. Therefore use a plugin create sitemaps that Google or other search engines can read to get quick access to your content. Lets look at the best WordPress sitemap plugins available now.
Google XML sitemap plugin
This is the obvious choice for its simplicity and light weight code. The plugin is available here.
