10 Essential WordPress Plugins for 2016 and Beyond

WordPress is a powerhouse and easily one of the most popular CMS platforms currently available. Besides a user-friendly interface and awesome themes, WordPress is immensely popular for their plugins. These app-like programs add additional functionality and features to your site.

They are incredibly easy to install and use, and they offer opportunities for developers to create all kinds of new experiences and tools. The only real problem is there are literally thousands of them to choose from ranging from popular favorites, to little known plugins. Today we’ll look at ten essential plugins you’re going to need now and going forward.

10 WordPress Plugins Every Website Needs in 2016 and Beyond

There’s a point in every entrepreneur or blogger’s life when they decide that they want to know how to make website. When that time comes, WordPress is going to be one the first choices they are presented with.

More than likely, they’re going to use this incredible platform. Once the website or blog is up and running, plugins won’t be far behind. Here are ten plugins your website can’t live without:

1. Yoast SEO

It’s almost impossible to talk about WordPress plugins without mentioning Yoast SEO. This consistently updated plugin is the king when it comes to makes SEO simple and easy for any level of website owner.

This plugin allows you to specify your target keyword and get feedback on your writing style, SEO tactics, and content structure. Furthermore, it lets you customize your meta description, page title, and even publish robot.txt and XML sitemaps for your website!

2. WordFence

Right behind your SEO efforts should be your website’s security. WordFence is widely regarded as the best security plugin for WordPress. Any site, no matter how big or small, is vulnerable to attack without some kind of protection.

Your website is part of you, an extension of your hopes and dreams. Don’t let someone get in there and mess things up for you. With protection from brute force attacks, firewall support, and more, this plugin is a comprehensive defense for your website and its content.

3. W3 Total Cache

The speed of your website is directly tied to its success. A slow website will cost you traffic, conversions, everything you need to grow and thrive online. Even a delay of a few seconds can cost you dearly. Surveys have shown that almost half of web users expect your website to load in 2 seconds or less.

One way you can keep your loading times down, is to use a plugin like W3 Total Cache. This plugin performs complex caching functions automatically, which increases your server’s performance and decreases loading times across your site.

4. Jetpack

Managing your WordPress site and monitoring its performance can be a very daunting thought for someone with a small team, or a solopreneur. Luckily, WordPress has a solution called Jetpack that combines several plugins into one for your convenience.

You can look at your traffic levels, security options, perform image optimization, and other features like contact forms, and subscription pages. It’s a great bundle of features for website owners.5. Backupbuddy

Content on the internet is far from permanent and even further from being considered “safe.” There are plenty of things that can cause a website to go down or lose information permanently. Hacks, crashes, bad coding, accidental user error, all of that can lead to a really bad day.

That’s why Backupbuddy is such an important plugin. It’s the top-rated option for keeping your content safe and secure. You can backup your entire site, store it in a separate location, and schedule automatic backups as well. I never leave my sites without it.

6. Scroll Triggered Box

There are tons of capture forms and lead generation plugins, but I find Scroll Triggered Box to be one of the most essential options. It gets your user’s attention without downright getting in their face. It strikes a perfect balance between noticeable and intrusive.

You can set the box to appear once a user has scrolled down a certain percentage of the page. This ensures you have their attention, and more importantly, an interest in your content. This is when you can present them with a simple email signup form or perhaps a suggestion as to what they should read next.

7. WP Smush.it

Images can quickly become a problem for a website if you’re not optimizing them correctly. Between large file sizes and long load times, they can bog down your website and make for a poor user experience.

WP Smush.it will automatically optimize any images you upload without the need for you to do it manually. This saves time and energy while also doing your site and your users a favor. Everybody wins!

8. Floating Social Bar

Social media marketing begins almost immediately after your website is up and running. Part of this initiative includes making it simple and easy for users to share your content directly from your site. This is where share buttons come in, and nothing works better in my experience than the Floating Social Bar plugin.

This plugin is both simple and clean. It makes it easy for users to share your content without being obtrusive or heavy on your site’s loading times.

9. Broken Link Checker

Broken links are hard to spot, but they can be detrimental to your SEO and even worse on the experience for your users. The Broken Link Checker plugin allows you to search your site for these problems and quickly fix them.

It goes beyond simple hyperlinks and also notifies you of missing images as well. The search looks at your content comments for problems.

10. Edit Flow

Our final plugin today is one aimed at website owners you need to create fast and efficient editorial workflows. Edit Flow allows you to manage your editorial calendar in addition to your authors. You can assign posts, leave comments, and plenty of other helpful features.

Every blog should have a content strategy, and this will help you form your own.

Final Thoughts

WordPress offers an insane amount of plugins for you to choose from. These helpful tools are a website owner’s best friend. By installing these essential options, you’ll have a great foundation for your website’s success.

Which plugins can you not live without? Let us know in the comments!

About Author

Sarah Watson is a WordPress blogger with over a decade of experience using the platform. She’s seen good plugins and bad ones, and now she’s helping people choose the correct options for their website.