Five Essential WordPress Plugins Every Site Owner Should Consider

When working with a WordPress site, one item that always comes up is plugins. Plugins can play a vital role in the success of your WordPress site. They can add to the user experience, help secure your site, and make managing your website much easier. There are thousands of different plugins to choose from, not that you have to install plugins in order to have a great WordPress site. Installing plugins can also change how quickly your website loads, which is why it is important to carefully consider each plugin that you want to install. Listed below, you will find five essential WordPress plugins that every site owner should consider installing.

W3 Total Cache
The first plugin in the list is W3 Total Cache. This plugin is the most downloaded caching plugin for WordPress sites. For those that are not aware of the purpose of having a caching site, an explanation is in order. When a user visits your WordPress site, WordPress generates the page that they see on the spot, running a variety of scripts to pull information from the WordPress database. This is the cause of slow loading WordPress site. A caching plugin will create static webpages, essentially running each of those scripts ahead of time and then instantly presenting users with a pre-generated webpage. W3 Total Cache will handle this responsibility with ease. Give your users a quicker loading WordPress site with W3 Total Cache.

WordPress SEO by Yoast
If there is one plugin to consider installing on your WordPress site it should be WordPress SEO by Yoast. This plugin will handle the creation of XML sitemaps and provide a host of other search engine optimization benefits. While writing your posts, use the snippet preview section to write Meta titles and descriptions. Set a target keyword and determine how often it is used in your content and Meta data. One of the most popular plugins, WordPress SEO by Yoast is an indispensable tool.

After the Deadline
Dealing with grammar and spelling mistakes while creating posts in WordPress can be difficult using the built in editor. After the Deadline is a plugin that includes grammar and spelling checking, as well as advanced style checking. Simple errors can detract from your posts and force your visitors to pause while reading – which can lead to visitor drop offs. Keep your posts clear and easy to read with After the Deadline.

Google Analytics
Every website administrator should use some form of analytics to track website traffic, including stats such as bounce rate, pages visited, and visit durations. Understanding how visitors use your website can help in the overall direction of your WordPress site. Using the Google Analytics plugin, you can get those stats directly from your WordPress dashboard without having to visit another website.

Digg Digg
In this day and age, social media is needed to spread the word about your WordPress site and posts. The Digg Digg WordPress plugin adds social media sharing buttons to your site, so visitors will have no problems quickly sharing your posts on Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, and other social media platforms. Digg Digg also includes customization options for the placement of a floating social media sharing bar.
With thousands of WordPress plugins to choose from for your website, it helps to stick with the plugins that provide the most benefits. These essential WordPress plugins add various advantages, such as SEO, increases to page loading speed, and social media sharing. Create a top notch WordPress site using the best plugins available.