WordPress Plugins add new functions to your site: contact forms, social sharing, SEO tweaks, and more. According the annual WordPress survey, plugins are the "Most Loved" and "Most Hated" aspect of the platform.

1. @tonycecala
10 Essential
WordPress Plugins
(mid-2015 edition)
Tony Cecala, Ph.D.
Digital Media Consultant

2. @tonycecala
What’s the Big Deal about
Plugins?
Extend the functionality of WordPress.
Connect external services to your site.
Make your site faster.
Make your site more secure.
Create a Web Application, not a Static brochure.

3. @tonycecala
How Do I Know if
a Plugin is Any Good?
Use the WordPress.org/plugins/ Repo
Look at the Star rating
Read the reviews
Is the documentation is well-written?
Read the “Changelog”

4. @tonycecala
What about Third-Party Plugins?
Themeforest.net and CodeCanyon.net
WPCore.com
Reviews/Comments
Is the documentation well-written?
What is their History of abandoning Code?

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And now, the List…
What makes these special?
Longevity
Quality
Functionality

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Contact Form 7
Just another contact form plugin. Simple but
flexible.
http://wordpress.org/plugins/contact-form-7
Plugin #1

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WordPress SEO by Yoast
Improve your WordPress SEO: Write better
content and have a fully optimized WordPress
site using Yoast's WordPress SEO plugin.
http://wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-seo
Plugin #2

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Google Analytics by Yoast
Track your WordPress site easily with the latest
tracking codes and lots added data for search
result pages and error pages.
http://wordpress.org/plugins/google-analytics-
for-wordpress
Plugin #3

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Widget Logic
Widget Logic lets you control on which pages
widgets appear using WP's conditional tags. It
also adds a 'widget_content' filter.
https://wordpress.org/plugins/widget-logic/
Plugin #4

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Widget Logic
Widget Logic lets you show
and hide Widgets based on
page types and other if/then
rules
https://wordpress.org/plugins/
widget-logic/
Plugin #4

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Soliloquy Lite
The best responsive WordPress slider plugin.
Made lite and free.
https://wordpress.org/plugins/soliloquy-lite/
Plugin #5

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Sucuri Scan
The Sucuri WordPress Security plugin is a
security toolset for security integrity monitoring,
malware detection and security hardening.
https://wordpress.org/plugins/sucuri-scanner/
http://j.mp/fixhack
Plugin #6

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Disable Title
Disable the title per page/post
https://wordpress.org/plugins/disable-title/
Plugin #7

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WP Email Login
Use your email address instead of a username to
log into your WordPress.
https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-email-login/
Plugin #8

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Scroll Triggered Boxes
Call to actions for engaged visitors, a less obtrusive
alternative to pop-ups.
https://wordpress.org/plugins/scroll-triggered-boxes/
Plugin #9

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Simple Custom CSS
Add Custom CSS to your WordPress site without
any hassles.
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-custom-css/
Plugin #10

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3 Bonus plugins…
Special use cases
Travel
Photography
User Interface Mods

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Nomad World Map
Create your own custom travel map. Link
locations on the map to blog posts and
share your travel plans.
https://wordpress.org/plugins/nomad-world-
map/
Bonus Plugin #1

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TwentyTwenty
Show before-and-after pictures in your
blog, with an interactive slider that
allows users to compare them.
https://wordpress.org/plugins/
responsive-menu/
Bonus Plugin #2

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Menu Image
Adds a field to load the image in a menu
item and displays the image inside the link
in the menu before the text.
https://wordpress.org/plugins/menu-image/
Bonus Plugin #3

21. @tonycecala
3 More Bonus plugins…
for Optimization
Too many plugins and features can impact server
performance and make a site load slowly.
So, of course, there’s a plugin for that!

22. @tonycecala
W3 Total Cache
Easy Web Performance Optimization (WPO)
using caching: browser, page, object,
database, minify and content delivery
network support.
https://wordpress.org/plugins/w3-total-cache/
Bonus Plugin #4

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Better WordPress Minify
Allows you to combine and minify your CSS
and JS files to improve page load time.
https://wordpress.org/plugins/bwp-minify/
Bonus Plugin #5

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Lazy Load for Videos
Speed up your site by replacing embedded Youtube
and Vimeo videos with a clickable preview image.
Visitors simply click on the image to play the video
https://wordpress.org/plugins/lazy-load-for-videos/
Bonus Plugin #6

25. @tonycecala
Thank you.
you can find this presentation online at:
http://www.slideshare.net/networker/