Slides for WordPress Insider Oct 2016

1. Connect With Me:
Email: Michelle@SpotOnDigitalMarketing.com
LinkedIn
Twitter
Facebook ( Feel Free to Like us  )
Website: SpotOnDigitalMarketing.com

2. What are Plugins
 Plugins are software
add-ons that can
enhance and modify the
default behaviour of
Wordpress.
 Plugin are installed
from within the
WordPress
Dashboard
• There were 40,819 ,free
plugin available on
wordpress.org this
morning when I have
last checked.

3. Some of the things plugins can do
 Spam protection
 SEO related tasks
 Add contact forms
 Social media sharing
 Ad management
 Speed up you website
 Add tables
 Add eCommerce functionality
 Automatic backup of your website
 Create a mobile version of your site

4. What is the problem ?

5. Not all plugins are the same
 Low quality code can impact:
 Site performance
 Security
 Cause conflicts with other plugins
 Plugins that are not being maintained:
 Can stop working one day because there is anew
WordPress version the plugin is not compatible with
 May not update when security updates required

6. How to choose plugins
Find WordPress Plugins that have High
Ratings
Check out how many people rated the
plugin!
Make sure the plugin is up to date
Ask yourself: Do I really need this plugin?
How good is the support for the plugin

7. How to chose a free plugin
Example: Looking for a plugin that will block referrer spam

8. Looking at the details
Version
Is up-to-date?
Compatible with
current version
Being used
Rating
# of ratings

9. About Premium Plugin
 There are many of them and sometimes it is harder to
decide as they are not rated anywhere.
 They typical have better support but not always

10. My top 6
 Google Analytics by Yoast - FREE
 Yoast SEO – Free
 Local SEO for WordPress by Yoast– Premium
 Gravity Forms – Premium
 W3 Total Cache (Speeding Up WordPress) – Free
 BackupBuddy - Premium

11. Picking a theme
Things to take in consideration.
 Will the theme lend itself to the desired branding?
 Are there enough “widgetized” regions?
 Will the new site have a lot of photos? Videos?
 How much “sidebar” content will there be? An
email opt-in box?
 Does the navigation need to be especially flexible?
Generally, can you visualize your content “fitting”
the theme?

12. Themes
 There are hundreds of free themes you can choose
from
 Premium themes cost anywhere between $39~$300
Premium theme providers:
 Elegant themes – $39 per 1 year access for 50+ themes
 WooThemes – From $70/3 themes and up
 DirectoryPress - $79
 StudioPress - $99.5 for one theme/$400 for the entire
collection

13. Important things to consider
 Cost
 Suitable for your needs
 Is the theme taking SEO into account? – Some
theme completely ignore SEO. On example: Theme
that do not use H1 tags at all or attached it to the logo
 Mobile behavior – While many themes are mobile
responsive, the actual ay they look and behave on
various devices varies.
 Ease of customization

14. Connect With Me:
Email: Michelle@CastilloMediaGroup.com
LinkedIn
Twitter
Facebook ( Feel Free to Like us  )
Website: WordPressInsider.org
This presentation can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/wordpress90