The document is authored by Anthony Hortin, a designer and developer at Maddison Designs, highlighting 25 essential WordPress plugins that enhance site functionality. It discusses various plugins including Wordfence for security, WP Super Cache for speed, and WooCommerce for e-commerce, each with links and alternatives. Additionally, it emphasizes the importance of plugins in tailoring WordPress sites to meet specific user needs.

1. Anthony Hortin @maddisondesigns maddisondesigns.com
25 WordPress Plugins
to Complement your Site

2. About me
Designer/Developer @ Maddison Designs
WordPress Theme & Plugin Developer
WordPress Theme & Plugin Directory contributor
Provides support on official WordPress Support Forum
Created Easy WP Guide (over 140K downloads)
Co-Organiser Melbourne WordPress WordCamp 2013
Co-Organiser for monthly WP Melbourne WordPress Meetups

3. Plugins are ways to extend and add to the functionality
that already exists in WordPress.
The core of WordPress is designed to be lean and
lightweight, to maximize flexibility and minimize code bloat.
Plugins then offer custom functions and features so that
each user can tailor their site to their specific needs.
“
”

4. 36,450 Plugins*
* In the WordPress.org Plugin Directory as at March 5, 2015

5. WordFence Security
“Wordfence Security is a free enterprise class security and performance
plugin that makes your site up to 50 times faster and more secure.”
Real-Time blocking of known attackers
Scans for Heartbleed vulnerability and many known backdoors
Scans for malware and phishing URL’s
Scans core files, theme & plugins against WordPress.org
Rate limit or block security threats like aggressive crawlers, scrapers & bots
See real-time site traffic
Falcon caching engine
Free plugin
https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordfence
Security
Alternatives
iThemes Security - https://wordpress.org/plugins/better-wp-security
All In One WP Security & Firewall - https://wordpress.org/plugins/all-in-one-wp-security-and-firewall

6. WP Super Cache
“A very fast caching engine for WordPress that produces static html files.”
Generates static HTML files to improve speed
Easy to set up and very fast
Works with WooCommerce when dynamic files are required (eg. cart/checkout)
Compresses pages
Free plugin
https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-super-cache
Caching
Alternatives
W3 Total Cache - https://wordpress.org/plugins/w3-total-cache
WordFence Security - https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordfence

7. WordPress SEO by Yoast
“Improve your WordPress SEO: Write better content and have a fully optimized
WordPress site using Yoast's WordPress SEO plugin.”
Helps you write better content
View search engine preview rendering of your content
Page analysis
Generates XML Sitemaps
Built-in breadcrumbs functionality
Social integration
Free plugin
https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-seo
SEO
Alternatives
All in One SEO Pack - https://wordpress.org/plugins/all-in-one-seo-pack
SEO Ultimate - https://wordpress.org/plugins/seo-ultimate

8. BackupBuddy
“The best way to back up (and move) a WordPress site.”
Database or full backups
Offsite storage (Stash, Amazon S3, Dropbox, Rackspace Cloud, FTP, email)
Schedule backups
1GB of free BackupBuddy Stash storage
Ability to exclude files & tables
Easily migrate sites between domain names (incl. URL replacement)
Email notifications
Paid plugin
https://ithemes.com/purchase/backupbuddy
Backup
Alternatives
VaultPress - https://vaultpress.com
WordPress Backup to Dropbox - https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-backup-to-dropbox

9. WooCommerce
“WooCommerce is a powerful, extendable eCommerce plugin that helps you sell
anything. Beautifully.”
Sell physical and digital products
Smart Dashboard widgets and reports
Manage stock levels
Multiple payment gateways
Can be extended with free & paid extensions
Flexible and customisable
Free plugin
http://www.woothemes.com/woocommerce
eCommerce
Alternatives
Easy Digital Downloads - http://easydigitaldownloads.com
Jigoshop - https://www.jigoshop.com

10. Gravity Forms
“Advanced Forms for WordPress Websites Just Don't Get Any Easier than
Gravity Forms”
Drag ’n drop visual form editor
Multipage forms
Easily create order forms
Conditional fields
Schedule forms
Can be used to create user generated content (eg. create Posts)
Numerous add-ons to extend functionality
Paid plugin
http://gravityforms.com
Forms
Alternatives
Contact Form 7 - http://wordpress.org/plugins/contact-form-7
Ninja Forms - https://wordpress.org/plugins/ninja-forms

11. Envira Gallery
“Envira Gallery is a responsive WordPress gallery plugin that creates incredibly
simple and easy workflows around building and managing galleries in
WordPress.”
Create responsive image sliders and galleries
Simple drag ’n drop interface
Multisite compatible
Customisable
Numerous add-ons to extend functionality
Paid plugin
https://enviragallery.com
Sliders & Galleries
Alternatives
Soliloquy - http://soliloquywp.com
Meteor Slides - https://wordpress.org/plugins/meteor-slides

12. Black Studio TinyMCE Widget
“The visual editor widget for WordPress.”
https://wordpress.org/plugins/black-studio-tinymce-widget
Image Widget
“A simple image widget that uses the native WordPress media manager to add
image widgets to your site.”
https://wordpress.org/plugins/image-widget
Regenerate Thumbnails
“Allows you to regenerate your thumbnails after changing the thumbnail sizes.”
https://wordpress.org/plugins/regenerate-thumbnails
Widget Logic
“Widget Logic lets you control on which pages widgets appear using WP's
conditional tags.”
https://wordpress.org/plugins/widget-logic
Adhoc

13. I’m Anthony Hortin
You can find me here
@maddisondesigns
maddisondesigns.com
@easywpguide
easywpguide.com