Which Plugins Are Right For My Website?

There are over 54,700 plugins on the wordpress.org site – not counting the other premium plugins from additional vendors. Just the navigating WordPress database can be difficult to navigate when creating or updating your site – much less trying to decide which plugin out of hundreds to use!

At CrowdSouth, we rely on a few tried-and-true plugins for virtually every website we create… and here’s why:

Simply put – they work, they’re well supported, they’re maintained often and they don’t crash sites.

Our mindset when it comes to plugins is to:

1. Use as few as possible
2. Create a full solution for the client
3. Use all plugins to their fullest extent
4. Not just deactivate but delete unused plugins

Our Favorite PlugIns

Akismet Anti-Spam

1. Spam comments run rampant on WordPress websites. It’s an expected consequence of using the world’s largest and most used website building platform.
2. Akismet helps to cut down on this spam and secures your website from a variety of spam threats.

iThemes Security

1. We add an additional security layer to every website we work on to help ensure uptime, reduce the number of attacks and mask any vulnerable areas.
2. We have found that iThemes is one of those undeniable plugins that help us achieve the most security for our clients. It has a robust set of free tools that help to keep your site secure and running like a well-oiled machine.

Yoast SEO

1. We don’t just build a website for clients. We try to build websites that work, drive traffic, convert leads and result in sales. Yoast SEO helps us achieve all of that by giving us additional control of some of the SEO practices that websites have available.
2. We utilize Yoast to its fullest extent so that the websites we create put their best SEO foot forward.

Slider Revolution

1. There are a variety of slider plugin  out there. While some are available at no charge as well as paid, none seem to come close to the usability with advanced features as Slider Revolution.
2. While this is a premium plugin, you will not regret adding this to the plugins on your site.

Gravity Forms

Again, there are a variety of free forms plugins available, but none as amazing as Gravity Forms. Not only does its WYSIWYG form editor make building complex forms simple, but it also stores all form submissions in the database for retrieval later. This is a must-have for any serious website.

These are a good handful of the plugins that we recommend for virtually every website we work on, from the simplest of blog/information websites- all the way to complex integrated e-commerce websites.

How do I decide which plugin to install on my site?

Here’s what you can look for to help you narrow down the list when trying to find the perfect WordPress plugin for your website:

How Many Active Installations?

Wordpress.org will publish the number of active installations a plugin has. If the plugin has few installations, we try to steer clear most of the time simply because we look for the best proven solutions with our clients. We don’t want to add an obscure plugin with unknowns to any website.

Is it compatible with the latest version of WordPress?

Many times- this will have a direct correlation with active installations, but it’s a good measure to check for in the event that a plugin hasn’t been updated in quite some time – It may not be compatible with the latest version of WordPress and could crash your entire website.

How many stars and how many reviews does it have?

We love reading feedback when researching the proper plugin so that we can help ensure it will be right for our clients. So read those reviews, realizing that not all are created equal and some should be taken with a grain of salt.