This document provides recommendations for plugins to install on a WordPress website. It recommends plugins for backup and security, analytics and tracking site usage, improving search engine optimization, adding contact forms, enabling social sharing of content, displaying social media icons to follow the site, collecting email subscribers, and inserting images into sidebars. The document also provides brief descriptions of popular plugin options for each category and basic installation instructions.

1. Start a Blog:
From Hosting to Posting
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2. Module 3: Plugins
• Plugin – Backup
• Plugin – Security
• Plugin – Analytics
• Plugin – SEO
• Plugin – Spam Blocker
• Plugin – Social Share
• Plugin – Social Follow
• Plugin – Subscription
• Plugin – Contact Form
• Plugin – Image Widget
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3. Install
Plugins
Plugins offer custom functions and features
so that you can tailor your site to fit your
specific purposes.
The most popular and official source for
WordPress Plugins is the WordPress.org
repository.
Visit the Plugins page and click the Add New
button to begin the Plugin selection and
install process.
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4. Install
Plugins
You’ll arrive at WordPress Plugins Repository
page. Type the name of the plugin into the
Search field.
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5. Install
Plugins
If you searched the exact name of the plugin,
it should appear first or near the top of the
results.
Review the Last Updated date, compatibility,
and ratings before making the decision to
install.
Then click the Install Now button.
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6. Install
Plugins
The final step in the installation process is to
Activate the plugin.
Many plugins will require you to provide
additional settings.
You can find the link to the Settings Page
different locations depending upon the
plugin. There may be a settings link near the
title on the Installed Plugins page. There may
be a settings link visible from the main
Dashboard. Finally, there may be a settings
link in a submenu of an item on the
Dashboard.
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7. Backup:
UpdraftPlus
Maintain a weekly backup of your site files
stored in another location than your hosting
server like Dropbox or Google Drive.
Maintain a daily backup of your MySQL
database as well.
DO NOT depend solely upon the backup
services provided by your hosting service.
I keep all my personal and client backups on
Dropbox.
I prefer to automate this task.
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8. Security:
Wordfence
Install a security plugin and set up at least
the basic settings to block unwanted access
to your site files.
Other highly-rated plugin options include:
• Sucuri
• All in One WP Security
https://www.tipsandtricks-
hq.com/wordpress-security-and-firewall-
plugin
Extra security measures:
https://yoast.com/wordpress-security/
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9. Spam Blocker:
Antispam Bee
Your WordPress installation will automatically
include a copy of the Akismet plugin as a
spam blocker. When you activate Akismet (by
logging in to your wordpress.com account),
you have the option of paying nothing or a
monthly fee of your choosing.
Another top option is Antispam Bee.
It requires nothing more than installation and
activation.
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10. Analytics:
Google Analytics by
MonsterInsights
Google Analytics by Yoast is now Google
Analytics by MonsterInsights. It is the same
plugin with a different owner.
It appears in your WordPress Dashboard as
‘Insights’ with the image of the little monster
with the magnifying glass.
To use this or any analytics plugin, you need
to create a Google Analytics account and add
your domain to the account.
This allows you to link your site to Google
and to have access to reports and statistics
about your traffic.
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11. SEO:
Yoast SEO
The Yoast SEO plugin provides many tools to
improve SEO (search engine optimization) to
your site, posts, and images.
This is a robust plugin with many pieces and
parts. I recommend that you focus on filling
in as many details as possible during setup
for General, Social, and Search Console.
Then use the Yoast SEO section at the
bottom of each post to edit your headline,
editorial snippet, and post keyword.
Clicking on the Social Icon to the left of the
section brings you to fields to customize the
content to be shared with Facebook and
Twitter.
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12. SEO:
Yoast SEO
Clicking on the Help Center bar provides
access to a tutorial video for each part of the
plugin.
Video Tutorials for
each part of
Yoast SEO
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13. SEO:
Yoast SEO
Then use the Yoast SEO section at the
bottom of each post to edit your headline,
editorial snippet, and post keyword.
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14. Contact Form:
Contact Form 7
Be sure to include a way to contact you on
your site. I include a contact form, my email
address, and a link to my Facebook group on
my Contact Page.
If you want more customization options,
consider a paid plugin such as Gravity Forms.
Another often recommended plugin is
Simple Basic Contact Form.
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15. Social Share:
Social Media Feather
A social sharing plugin provides links (often
at the top and/or bottom of each post) to
encourage your readers to share your
content with their friends.
Depending upon the theme I am using, I
experiment with other plugins as well.
Always look at the last updated date,
reviews, and number of active installs
information provided in the plugin directory
before installing any plugin.
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16. Social Follow:
Simple Social Icons
Adding Social Icons to your site allows your
readers to connect with you on various social
media platforms in addition to your blog.
The Simple Social Icons offers customization
of color, size, shape, and alignment of your
icons. It allows you to place the icons in any
widget area.
You can choose from several options in this
category. I find this plugin to be the simplest
to set up and customize to fit my theme.
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17. Email Marketing:
MailChimp for
WordPress
The most frequently mentioned email service
among bloggers is MailChimp. After backup
and security, the other primary function
needed is the ability to collect email
addresses from your readers.
MailChimp provides HTML code to create a
sign up form, but a plugin is usually the
simplest way to add a form to your site.
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18. Image in Sidebar:
Image Widget
It is possible to add an image to your sidebar
using the Text Widget and some HTML code.
But the quickest way to grab an image from
your Media Library add it and some text
and/or a link is by using the Image Widget.
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19. I share easy-to-follow tutorials and effective tools
to improve your blogging journey. I specialize
in identifying the best resources
to prevent online overwhelm.
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