plugging in your blog: information about wordpress plug-ins
In 2010 when I moved to WordPress.org, one of the most baffling aspects of that transition was WordPress plug-ins. Questions swirled around me:
Which plug-ins did I need?
How many plug-ins should I have?
What plug-ins would have an adverse effect on my blog?
Which plug-in was the best for so many different things?
Some days, I still have many of those same questions. When Erin does design and set-up on a new blog, she carefully chooses plug-ins that will increase the blog’s functionality without compromising its speed and security.
Here are a few great posts we’ve read recently on the issue of plug-ins.
First off, Amy Lynn Andrews introduced her readers to her new favorite SEO plug-in, WordPress SEO by Yoast. For those of you who are working to improve your SEO and build traffic to your blog, this post is part of an excellent series about SEO Amy has written.
A couple of other bloggers have offered insight about plug-ins lately. As with most topics, there seems to be no right answer about the number of plug-ins you should have.
Michael Hyatt shares his favorite plug-ins. He is currently using 24 which he admits in the post is probably too many.
Which brings us to Tentblogger’s plug-in post where he encourages bloggers to use 10 or less plug-ins.
How many plug-ins do you have on your blog? And why does that number matter?
Plug-ins can slow your site dramatically and can become a security hazard if you fail to keep them updated. We recommend that you update all plug-ins regularly (monthly is good) and, while you are at it, go ahead and backup your blog as well. Many times “broken blogs” can be eliminated by making sure you perform routine maintenance on your site. Updating plug-ins and backing up content are two biggies. Remember to run the WordPress update first (if one is available), your theme update (if available), and then update your plugins after that. Your blog will be happier that way.
Yoast’s SEO plugin is fabulous. I was kind of surprised to see that Michael Hyatt doesn’t use it!
I must admit, though, that I definitely have more plugins than TentBlogger recommends. A lot of those are ones specific to the Genesis framework, so maybe that doesn’t count? 🙂 I aim for 20, but sometimes it ends up closer to 30.
Here’s a list of my favorites, that I install depending on what I need where: http://gretchenlouise.com/tech/wordpress-plugins/