Choosing the Right Plugins

Ira Horowitz

Cornershop Creative

@ira_horowitz

@cornershop

About Cornershop Creative

Online services company that provides excellent design, expert web development,

and innovative online strategy for nonprofits, social entrepreneurs, and

small businesses

Summary

• Where to Find Plugins?

• Criteria for Selecting a Plugin

• Must Have Plugins

FINDING PLUGINS

Where to Find Plugins

• WordPress.org (http://wordpress.org/plugins/)

– Can Filter by Tags and Popularity

– It’s integrated directly into the WordPress Admin Panel

• Tidy Repo (http://tidyrepo.com/)

– Tagline of “A curated list of the best WordPress Plugins”

– All plugins are tested and verified before listing

Where to Find Plugins

• Code Canyon (http://codecanyon.net)

– More than 3,000 plugins

– Custom Premium plugins

– Search and filterable

• Google– If you can’t find it via these sources, google it

CRITERIA FOR SELECTING PLUGINS

Do You Need a Plugin?

• Is it functionality already provided by the theme or somewhere else?

• Is custom functionality better for your purpose?

• Is there a web service that works without installing a plugin?

Number of Downloads

Plugin Rating

Plugin Reviews

Plugin Reviews

• This is where most of the complaints will exist

• Common or often complaints can be an indicator of a bad plugin

Updated Regularly

• How often is it updated?

• Does the publisher make bug fixes quickly?

• Are there security patches or concerns?

• Are updates performed when WordPress releases?

Compatibility

• Make sure it is compatible with the latest versions of WordPress

• Ensure that it is still in active development and maintenance

Plugin Website

Support System

• Check out FAQs

• Look at documentation or knowledge base

• Support team that will respond to questions or bugs

Plugins by same author

• Check to see if the same person/company is actively developing other plugins

• Multiple plugins from one author with high rating are typically safe

Where there’s one…

• There are probably 10

• Review other similar plugins and don’t just take the first one you find

Go Pro!

• If available, it’s worth the small investment (usually only $20-$50)

• Better features

• Better support

MUST HAVE PLUGINS

Advanced Custom Fieldshttps://wordpress.org/plugins/advanced-custom-fields/

• Let’s developers easily create custom fields on posts and pages

Gravity Formshttp://www.gravityforms.com/

• Create unlimited number of forms

• Collects responses in WordPress

• Customized confirmation page and email

• Dozens of extensions that let you collect payments, and send data to third-party tools like MailChimp & Salesforce

WordFencehttps://wordpress.org/plugins/wordfence/

• Makes your site secure

• Regular security threat notifications

• Lockout notifications

• Blacklist spammers

Backup Buddyhttps://ithemes.com/purchase/backupbuddy/

• Keep a backup of your content should anything go wrong

Akismethttp://akismet.com/

• Anti-Spam tool for WordPress sites

• If you have comments enabled, you need this

Yoast SEOhttps://yoast.com/wordpress/plugins/seo/

• Optimize all plugins for Search Engines

• Customize social sharing text

HAVING FUN WITH PLUGINS

Intuitive Custom Post Orderhttps://wordpress.org/plugins/intuitive-custom-post-order/

• Easily drag and drop to sort posts, pages or anything in WordPress

The Divi Builderhttp://www.elegantthemes.com/plugins/divi-builder/

• Easily drag and drop to sort posts, pages or anything in WordPress

Collapse-o-Matichttps://wordpress.org/plugins/jquery-collapse-o-matic/

• Create collapsible menus in the body of your pages

• Great for FAQs or long-content pages

Social Steam http://codecanyon.net/item/wordpress-social-stream/2201708

Widget Menuizerhttps://wordpress.org/plugins/widget-menuizer/

• Sick of the same old boring dropdown navigation menu?

• Create more dynamic and engaging menus

• Pulls widget areas in a menu, so anything you can put in a widget, can now be in a menu

NextGen Public Uploaderhttps://wordpress.org/plugins/nextgen-public-uploader/

• Let users submit their own photos to your site, showing their support

• Make a great action campaign

• Let users submit their photos and automatically display in a variety of excellent gallery layouts

Photo Contest WordPress Pluginhttp://codecanyon.net/item/photo-contest-wordpress-plugin/8320636

• Create photo contests

• Easily reset contest

• Run multiple contest at once

WordPRess ColorBox Lightboxhttps://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-colorbox/

• Add a mobile responsive lightbox to your website

BBPresshttps://bbpress.org/

• Create dynamic and interactive forums

Conclusion

• Don’t just look at the WordPress.org Plugin Gallery

• Research all alternatives before selecting a plugin

• Before using, confirm it’s legitimate via downloads, reviews, and support

• Go Pro!

@ira_horowitz@cornershop

www.cornershopcreative.comira@cornershopcreative.com