Below is a list of WordPress plugins I have experience working with, followed by a list of common plugin-related task requests. Many of these plugins I actively manage and support across multiple client websites.
WordPress Plugin Experience
WPBakery Page Builder
Elementor Page Builder
Site Origin Page Builder
What are Page Builder plugins?
In order to create a page, post, or custom post type content, a WordPress user will need to utilize the WordPress post editor. A page builder plugin typically works within the post editor, or replaces it entirely, and attempts to provide the user with an intuitive manner by which they can add and manage content.
Each page builder plugin is different, but they typically convey the following benefits to most users:
- drag and drop page building functionality
- container content blocks / areas such as sections, rows, and columns
- pre-developed elements which can be added to content blocks to provide advanced functionality, layout, or design
Popular WordPress Page Builder Plugins:
- WP Bakery Page Builder (formerly Visual Composer)
- Elementor
- Page Builder by Site Origin
My Experience:
I’ve worked with the above listed page builder plugins for several years now. WP Bakery used to be called Visual Composer, which is when I started working with it initially. And I’ve seen both Elementor and Site Origin’s page builder go through numerous changes and iterations over the years.
I currently support multiple websites which make use of these plugins and have utilized them to create countless pages and posts on my client’s behalf.
What do security plugins do?
WordPress security plugins attempt to secure the WordPress installation, or a specific aspect of the website, from vulnerability, hacking, or intrusion. The techniques these plugins employ to achieve their specific end goals are wide and varied, but most have been tried and tested by numerous WordPress administrators over the years.
There are several different areas of a WordPress website in which security might become a concern, perhaps most notably is user account security. If an unauthorized user gains access to an Administrator WordPress account they have the opportunity to do serious damage to the WordPress installation, database, or the website’s content.
Wordfence
In my opinion, Wordfence is the best and most complete WordPress security plugin solution currently available. The features it provides are very useful, even at the free (non-licensed) tier. Most other security plugins will only contain a portion of the features provided through Wordfence.
Loginizer, Limit Login Attempts, Login Lockdown
These plugins all work to accomplish one thing: WordPress user account login security. They may go about this in different ways, but their goals are the same: prevent brute force hacking attempts. They can do this by limiting the number of login attempts allowed by a specific IP address across a specific time period. Note that if login security is something you’re after, Wordfence provides this functionality. Regardless, it should be known that only one WordPress login security plugin / feature should be active at any given time. Having two (or more) active at the same time may cause conflicts and should be tested in a staging environment initially.
Akismet Anti-Spam
The Akismet plugin is an anti-spam plugin which helps to reduce the number of spam comments you have to deal with. Having just one spam link slip through in a comment can be bad for a brand’s image. Akismet accomplishes its goal by scanning each comment your website receives and comparing it against other comments other websites have received. If the comment is a match for spam, it is labeled as such, allowing the user to simply click the “empty spam” button to remove all of the spam comments at once.
My Experience:
The security of a WordPress website has always been an important aspect of my support services. Helping numerous clients recover from WordPress hacks and intrusions over the years has helped me understand the tactics hackers user in order to better safeguard against them.
In addition to the plugins listed above, I’ve tried and tested many different security plugins. My complaint about the majority is that they don’t do a very good job at covering all of the bases security-wise. Due to this, when an under-experienced WordPress user sees that XYZ Security plugin is installed, active, and up to date, they presume their website is safe. This isn’t always the case.
Wordfence WordPress Security
Loginizer
Akismet Anti-Spam
WP Super Cache
W3 Total Cache
WP Fastest Cache
LiteSpeed Cache
What do caching plugins do?
The process of caching helps to reduce page load times and increase page speed performance by reducing the amount of work the server is required to do each time a user accesses a website’s page.
How do they do that?
When a WordPress website’s page is loaded without caching there are numerous commands and queries sent to the server to be processed. Once that is complete, the pertinent code is returned to the user’s web browser to display the website’s page. If we consider a page of a website which is rarely updated, the information provided by the server each time the page is loaded by any user is most often identical. Regardless, the server still has to process the commands and queries in order to return a result to the browser.
Enter a caching solution. Now, when a page is loaded the code that the server generates and returns to the user’s web browser is saved, typically in a temporary file, for that specific page. When a user refreshes the page, or a new user attempts to access the page, instead of forcing the server to recompute the code necessary to display the page, it simply returns a cache hit and displays the cached file. This reduces server resource load and improves page delivery / load speed.
Considerations:
While it is true that a caching solution will typically speed up the loading of a WordPress website’s pages, there are considerations one must take into account:
Dynamic Content
Because a caching solution typically results in a snapshot of a page being taken at the time of cache creation, dynamic content which is expected to update continually must have particular care taken in order to load the recent results within the cached page. Otherwise, the content which is displayed at the time the caching snapshot is taken will display as a constant. This includes most social media fed content, as well as rotating advertisement solutions, and even a recent posts widget.
Cache Expiry Conditions
Be sure to take note of the cache expiration condition settings for your website. In my example above, the recent posts widget issue could be resolved by setting a condition for the cache to expire whenever a new post is published. Likewise, you will want to set a condition for the expiration of a specific page / post’s cache whenever it is updated.
Cache Configuration
Not all caching plugin solutions offer the same features. And most of them are freemium, which is to say that they provide a limited set of options for free with the additional options unlocking once a license is purchased and installed. Depending upon the setup of your WordPress website and your hosting account / server, you may need to customize the plugins settings from their defaults in order to avoid errors. I highly recommend a caching solution be thoroughly tested in a staging environment prior to being enabled on a production server.
Popular WordPress Caching Solutions:
- WP Super Cache
- W3 Total Cache
- WP Fastest Cache
- LiteSpeed Cache
My Experience:
I currently maintain and support WordPress websites which utilize WP Super Cache, W3 Total Cache, and WP Fastest Cache. And I have previously installed and configured the LiteSpeed Cache plugin. I’ve made accommodations for AdRotate advertisements as well as social media content to persist dynamically through the cache.
What do form builder plugins do?
Form builder plugins can help us develop user friendly forms with near limitless functionality and integration potential. They can be used to create everything from contact forms to pre-qualification / estimate calculation forms.
We can use a form to take payment for a good or service via numerous payment portal options, namely PayPal. We can also setup a link to a merchant account using Authorize.net allowing you to take credit card payments directly through your website.
The form’s submission can be directed to specific email accounts based upon options set by the user. An example of this would be a contact form with the following set of radio buttons: 1) Support, 2) Pre-Sales, 3) Warranty Request. If the user selects option 2) Pre-Sales, we can configure the form submission to go directly to that department’s email account or to a specific user / set of users.
Autoresponders are a snap as well. Upon submission of a form, we can setup an autoresponder to email the submitter back with information relevant to their submission. We could include additional information at that time, or let the user know someone will be in touch with them within X hours / days.
The above represents just a few of the options a form builder plugin can put at your fingertips.
Popular Form Builder Solutions
Gravity Forms
- 2Checkout
- ActiveCampaign
- Advanced Post Creation
- Agile CRM
- Authorize.net
- AWeber
- Batchbook
- Breeze
- Campaign Monitor
- Campfire
- Capsule CRM
- Chained Selects
- CleverReach
- Constant Contact
- Coupons
- Dropbox
- Emma
- Freshbooks
- GetResponse
- Help Scout
- Highrise
- HubSpot
- iContact
- Mad Mimi
- MailChimp
- Mailgun
- Partial Entries
- PayPal Payments Pro
- PayPal Payments Standard
- Pipe Video Recording
- Polls
- Postmark
- Quiz
- SendGrid
- Signature
- Slack
- Stripe
- Survey
- Trello
- Twilio
- User Registration
- Webhooks
- Zapier
- Zoho CRM
Contact Form 7
The Contact Form 7 plugin represents a great option for a form building solution. It’s easy to use, but not all together the most intuitive in my opinion. I believe the Gravity Forms solution to be a more user-friendly option. Regardless, CF7 is a feature rich solution with great documentation. Its popularity has also lead to it being featured in countless online tutorials where forms are being built on the WordPress platform. If considering a form builder plugin, I recommend you research both solutions listed here and compare their features.
My Experience:
I’ve maintained a developer / elite level license with Gravity Forms for almost a decade now, and have used the plugin in too many projects to count. Contact Form 7 commonly comes bundled with premium themes and, as such, I also have extensive experience utilizing it as well.
Gravity Forms WordPress Form Builder Plugin
Contact Form 7 Form Builder Plugin
Revolution Slider WordPress Plugin
MetaSlider WordPress Slider Plugin
What functionality do these plugins provide?
In general, these plugins allow a user to create image slideshows, galleries, and carousels which can be integrated into their website’s pages or theme files.
In the case of the Slider Revolution plugin the user is provided with a feature rich slideshow configuration tool allowing for slide-by-slide customization of settings and layer-based animations and timings. The customization features and options make this plugin a popular solution for homepage slideshows as well as on-page carousels.
Popular Slideshow & Gallery Plugins:
- Slider Revolution
- MetaSlider
- Smart Slider 3
- Envira Gallery
- NextGen Gallery
My Experience:
I have utilized each of the above listed plugins multiple times over the years. I have the most experience using the Slider Revolution and MetaSlider plugins, however.
These plugins are quite straight forward. The most common issues I run into with them are when users fail to apply available updates for extended periods of time. Otherwise they typically behave as expected and are fairly simple to make use of.
It should be noted that, in the case of the Slider Revolution plugin, there are a wide array of options and features available for the configuration of a slideshow as well as individual slides which may make for a steep learning curve. If a user intends to use this plugin to its fullest extent, I highly recommend that user work to learn the software within a staging environment.
What do social media & social sharing plugins do?
Social Sharing: Typically, social sharing plugins will add buttons to posts, pages, and sometimes other content, which allow users to click a button to share a link to the content on that specific social media platform. A user might be reading a post on a website and want to share it on Facebook. With a social sharing plugin configured they will see a Facebook icon, generally speaking, which, when clicked, will format a post within their Facebook account allowing them to share a link to the given page.
Beyond the above, social media plugins provide several different types of functionality. Some allow you to automatically add new post information to Twitter, or Facebook, when you click the Publish button on a new post. Other plugins might display a feed of posts, such as from an Instagram account, which is updated based upon specific a tag or attribute or from a specific account.
Popular Social Media Plugins
- Social Sharing Plugins: There are too many to list
- Feed Them Social
- Custom Twitter Feeds
- WP to Twitter
- Custom Feeds for Instagram
- WP Instagram Feed Gallery
- Custom Feeds for Facebook
- Pinterest Feed
- Pinterest Pin It Button
- and a bunch more…
My Experience:
Considering what I do for a living, it should come as no surprise that I work with a lot of marketers. And I can tell you that marketers love their social media integrations. Not only are they beneficial for SEO, but they also work together synergistically. A user on Facebook may visit the website and notice an Instagram integration which then leads them to become a follower of the Instagram account as well, and so on.
Social Media WordPress Plugins
Yoast! SEO WordPress Plugin
All In One SEO WordPress Plugin
What functionality do Search Engine Optimization plugins provide?
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) plugins allow the user to customize specific aspects of the website, such as meta titles and descriptions for pages and posts. They will also typically allow for the generation of an XML sitemap, and allow for control of various other areas of the website’s functionality and display, such as whether or not certain post types are public.
Google Analytics Tracking
It’s important to note that no SEO effort should go without analytical tracking. Using Google Analytics will provide us with a ton of data regarding the users who access your website, and their behavior. Analytics tracking can also help us identify content on your website which is popular with your current users. This, in turn, can help inform future marketing campaigns with added insights.
Popular SEO Plugins:
- Yoast! SEO
- All In One SEO Pack
My Experience:
I’ve used both the Yoast! SEO and the All In One SEO Pack plugin on numerous occasions for my clients. These days I use the Yoast! SEO plugin more commonly, but I maintain and support over 10 websites which still use the AIO SEO plugin.
With the help of one of these plugins I can assist with your SEO campaign by customizing your meta titles, descriptions, image Alt and Title attributes, as well as on-page content.
- Jetpack
- WooCommerce
- Advanced Custom Fields
- Advanced Custom Post Types
- Duplicate Post
- Redirection
- Shortcodes Ultimate
- Better Search Replace
- The Events Calendar
- Force Regenerate Thumbnails
- User Role Editor
- Polylang
- LearnDash
- Max Mega Menu
- Admin Menu Editor
- Widget Logic
- Custom Sidebars
- Child Theme Configurator
- Simple Custom CSS and JS
- Cloudflare
- Tawk.To Live Chat
- Disqus Comment System
- Enhanced Media Library
WordPress Plugin Support Details
WordPress plugin update management and staged rollout
One aspect of my WordPress management services is to apply plugin updates. Although updating is typically a non-issue, it’s always a good idea to have a current backup, and to initially apply and test the plugin updates in a staging or development environment prior to rolling them out to the production website or server. WordPress plugin and software updates are performed either weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly.
Plugin solutions, installation and usage support
Finding the correct plugin solution for a particular use case is not always an easy thing to do. I regularly help my clients find and test WordPress plugin solutions to suit their needs.
Once a solution is settled upon I help my clients install, configure, and modify the plugin to better address the needs at hand.
I then maintain access to the plugin’s documentation and help answer any questions my clients may have regarding usage.
Modification of existing, or development of new, WordPress plugins
We can discuss what you need, and see if an existing plugin could be modified to address it. Otherwise, we can develop a new WordPress plugin to provided whatever WordPress functionality you might be after.
