So you want to start a blog using WordPress but you’re wondering which plugins you need? I will help you by mentioning the best WordPress plugins for blog
The majority of people know that WordPress is a popular platform for blogging because it allows us to install themes and plugins to make our work easier
In this article, I will only talk about the most needed plugins so I wouldn’t confuse you
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what is a plugin?
A plugin is add-on software that we add to our WordPress platform without the need of learning to code or hire a developer
These plugins can make our blog more functional and engageable if we use the right ones
what are the best WordPress plugins for blogs?
If you’re serious about blogging, you really need to install some plugins to reach your achievement and goals
Because these plugins can help you work with less effort (HTML knowledge) and time (automation process)
We will talk only about the most needed WordPress plugins for blogs you could use at first which are:
- Plugin for SEO
- Plugin for data analysis
- Plugin for Email Newsletter
- Plugin for Editing your theme
- Plugin for shorting your links
plugins for SEO in WordPress
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the most important skill we need to master during our blogging journey
Because that’s what will help us gain free traffic on our content from the search engine
So the first kind of plugin you need is the plugin that helps you improve your SEO within your posts
yeast SEO plugin
There are a lot of SEO plugins on WordPress but I will only mention what I personally use which is Yeast SEO
This plugin will make you improve your internal and external SEO by giving you an analysis of your:
- Focus keyphrase
- The title
- Keyphrase length
- Images
- Meta description
As you see in the picture above, the list is full of features that you need to focus on to rank higher in the search engine
Try to fix the issues by reviewing your work
If you click on the eye icon you will see exactly what the problem is because this plugin will light up the text for you
Also, yeast SEO has a readability analysis so you can make your content enjoyable
By checking the passive voice and the length of the paragraph inside your blog post
yeast SEO features
Yeast SEO has a lot of features in the free version that can help you keep an eye on your SEO writing process
The features are SEO analysis – Readability analysis – Insights – Text link counter – Social sharing – XML sitemaps and so much more
But if you want more features for better results you can always upgrade to premium
All-in-one SEO plugin
All-in-one SEO is another popular WordPress plugin for SEO
As you see in the picture above, AIOSEO will give you all the information about your content in detail
When you compare it to yeast SEO, you will find that are similar in features because both will help you improve your ranking in the search results
So choose one of them and you will be happy with the results don’t worry
site kit plugin
When you start blogging, you will need to keep an eye on your traffic sources and behavior to know how to work right
That is why you need to install the site kit from Google
With this plugin, you can link your google analytics, google search console, and Google AdSense on your WordPress
I have written an article about how to create these accounts here
mailpoet for collecting email list
What you need besides the SEO is how you can collect emails and send newsletters
If you searched before for some software that can collect emails, surely you heard about highly expensive ones like Mailchimp
And in case you want to start blogging and grow your email list for free or with a minimum payment
So you can’t afford this kind of tool
I find an amazing WordPress plugin for this purpose and to make it cooler it’s free
But the free version is limited to 1,000 subscribers only which is good for starter
Note: some of these subscribers can be scammed so make sure to edit your newsletter
With Mailpoet you can create a subscription form with ease and you can edit it anytime
I put my subscription form on the sidebar after I choose the style and font in the Mailpoet plugin section
Also, you can create a welcome email and a newsletter for your subscribers
elementor Website builder plugin
The Elementor website builder is one of my favorite plugins that I use on my websites
It is super easy to use and will make your site look amazing and beautiful
Elementor uses the drag-and-drop feature without the need for coding
So just drag and drop a photo or a header into the page or post and your job is almost done
The features are a lot with the free version and you won’t need to upgrade if you just want a cool-looking theme for blogging
But if you are someone that works as a web designer so the pro version is better for you
Pretty links plugin
Our last needed plugin is called pretty links
With this plugin, we can shorten our link to make it look pretty and smaller instead of the long and ugly URL
Just go to the pretty links plugin dashboard to add your link
By clicking on add new then post your link and choose a title for it and a name for how you want it to look as in the picture below
Above all of this, pretty links also will allow you to see how many clicks your link got in the main dashboard of the plugin
popular questions on plugins
I love to answer some of the frequently asked questions on the internet around a specific topic
So let’s do this to grow our knowledge
What plugins do I need for a blog?
There are thousands of plugins that you can find when you search the WordPress platform
But you need only to focus on the plugins that help you improve SEO, collect emails, edit your theme, and shorten your links
Other than that, you can add some plugins that help you grow on social media by sharing your content
Which plugins is best for SEO?
As mentioned in this post, the best plugins for SEO are yeast SEO and all-in-one SEO
What are the top 5 plugins you typically use in WordPress?
The top 5 plugins you typically use in WordPress are:
Do plugins cost money on WordPress?
A lot of plugins are free but some of them have a premium upgrade
But you don’t need to upgrade unless you need more features depending on your niche
Do plugins slow down a WordPress site?
It depends on how many codes are in the plugin
And beware some of them could affect your database connection
I faced this problem a while ago when I installed a plugin for sharing posts on social media (share social media buttons)
After I talked to the Hostinger support team, they discovered that the share social media buttons caused this issue
So to be safe, try to not install a lot of plugins especially if you don’t need them
final thoughts
If you want to start blogging you should consider installing some plugins to make your work easier
In this post, I talked about the most needed WordPress plugins for blogs so you can make your site functional even if you have zero coding knowledge
But please be aware of installing a lot of plugins at once to avoid slowing down your site or even worse getting some issues or errors
If you have experience with this kind of topic just mention some of your tested plugins in the comments down below
Above mentioned sites
- Yeast SEO
- All In One SEO
- Site Kit
- MailPoet
- Elementor
- Pretty Links
- Litespeed Cashe
- Easy Social Sharing
- Hostinger
