What plugins do you really need on your WordPress site?

What kind of plugins do you really need on your WordPress site?

Plugins and which ones to use is a topic consistently swirling around the radio waves in the universe.

We got a question last week for WPblab from Chef Ivan Flowers and it got me thinking.

Is there a plugin "recipe" that can be used for most sites? #AskWPblab

— Chef Ivan Flowers (@ChefIvanFlowers) November 18, 2015

When you make bread, there are basic ingredients.

Once you understand the role of each ingredient in the chemistry of the bread making, you can start substituting and fiddling around with the recipe.

Better Homes and Gardens’ New Cookbook is my go-to. Even though it is decades old it’s really the only one you need. Once you understand the relationship between ingredients, you can always make it your own.

Now, the WPwatercooler site has a list of recommended plugins that are repeated in their 160+ episodes, so you should check those out.

Here’s my understanding of the basic recipe:

• Backup
• SEO
• Social Formatting
• Social Sharing Buttons
• Spam
• Feed Subscription
• Security

Backup

For backup I’m using Updraft Plus. I’m not totally sold on it because it makes three zip files and I don’t know how to restore from a backup yet but since I haven’t found a replacement it stays. I like that it will put a copy of the backup in my DropBox.

SEO & Social Formatting

I’m using Yoast SEO. This does the Google sitemap, formats my posts for optimized social sharing, and helps me stay on track with my heading. I wish I used it six months ago.

Social Sharing Buttons

I’m using Mashshare. It has two big buttons, the only ones I really want: Facebook and Twitter.

Spam

I’m using WP-SpamShield. It’s free. It works. No complaints.

Feed Subscription

I’m using Feedburner Email Subscription. People can signup to get my blog posts in their email. It’s straightforward.

Security

This was suggested by WPFixIt. I haven’t used one since SiteGround seems to keep me safe.  But I also hear Sucuri is good.

@YouTooCanBeGuru my favorite one right now is Simple Security Firewall. Lightweight and does allot.

— WP Fix It (@WPFixItFast) November 22, 2015

Extras:

This would be the poppy seeds, or garlic, or whatever else you’re putting in your bread. It’s not a need per se but it makes your life better.

I’m using more than this but here are a few extras that you may want to consider as a blogger. This list may or may not be updated in the future.

DesktopServer is how I made my site and they have an importer plugin and a duplicator plugin.

Manage WP‘s Worker is for managing all of my websites in one dashboard. It’s really nice. I pay $2.50 a month for this and it’s worth it.

FooGallery: I’m actually using FooGallery, FooBox, FooVideo, and Owl Carousel from them. I love Foo, what can I say?

Revive Old Post: Isn’t it bad that I forget to tweet my own articles? I’m always afraid of being too pushy so I spend a lot of time with replies on Twitter and retweets of their posts. I have this set on tweeting every 7.5 hours. It seems to help me help myself.

Jetpack. I like that it integrates with the WordPresss iOS app. It helps me be more responsive to the comments I get on my blog.

Also, you can see the plugins I favorited in the WordPress Repository here.