WP101: Plugin "Best Practices"

Introduction to WordPress Plugins: why use them, how to find & evaluate them, configuring plugins, recommended plugins. For Beginners.

Transcript

1. ©2014 Karen McCamy  FreelanceTechnologyReview.com
2. Plugin “Best Practices: Tonight’s Agenda  Brief Plugin Review  “Best Practices”  Caveats  Configuring Plugins  My Recommended Plugins ©2014 Karen McCamy  FreelanceTechnologyReview.com
3. Plugin Review  What’s a Plugin?  WP Codex (http://codex.wordpress.org/Plugins ©2014 Karen McCamy  FreelanceTechnologyReview.com
4.  2 Types of Plugins  Front-end: ◦ Appear to your site visitor ◦ Impact site loading speed  Back-end: ◦ Think of these as “admin” uses ◦ For editorial and/or organizational purposes ◦ Don’t impact site loading ©2014 Karen McCamy  FreelanceTechnologyReview.com Plugin Review (continued)
5. Plugin Review: Some Common Uses  Caching  Backup  SEO  Contact Forms  Admin Functions  Security  Social Buttons  eCommerce (true storefront)  Shopping Cart (simple)  PayPal  Tool Bars  Membership Management  Many more… ©2014 Karen McCamy  FreelanceTechnologyReview.com
6.  Where to find plugins  Only the WordPress Repository www.wordpress.org/plugins  Researching plugins  Take your time…sometimes lots of time!  See my article here: Basic WordPress Elements ©2014 Karen McCamy  FreelanceTechnologyReview.com Plugin Review (continued)
7. Best Practices  Source from the Codex  Take time to research completely  Some quick tips: • Do your research! • This takes time, sometimes a lot of time! • Is it current, up-to-date? • An old or out-of-date plugin can break your site! • What are the support issues? • how many are unresolved? • who does the support? • Read the description, FAQs, look at the screenshots • Is it easy to configure without "coding"? ©2014 Karen McCamy  FreelanceTechnologyReview.com
8.  Avoid “Too Many” Plugins!  Avoid Duplicating Plugins!  Remove Unused Plugins!  Avoid Slowing Your Site!  Test your site speed & function after every plugin addition  Understand Configuration  …before installing!  Evaluating Site Load Problems How Does Your Site Speed Rank? ©2014 Karen McCamy  FreelanceTechnologyReview.com Caveats
9. Configuring Plugins  Process of “setting it up to work”  Every plugin is different!  Examples: ◦ Dashboard Site notes: no config ◦ YARPP: minimal config for placement ◦ WP SEO by Yoast: uber-heavy config (with doc’s)  Some general rules:  Understand what you are doing!  Read the docs before downloading!  Get support from plugin author ©2014 Karen McCamy  FreelanceTechnologyReview.com
10. My Recommended Plugins  Akismet: prevents comment spam, comes with WordPress  W3 Super Cache: caching plugin, site speed improvement, FREE  Google XML Site Maps: zero config, FREE!  Backup Buddy (or backup alternative)  Dashboard Site notes: zero config, FREE!  WP SEO by Yoast  Fast Secure Contact Form: minimal config, FREE  Editorial Calendar, for multiple authors & scheduling  P3 Performance Profiler: checks all plugins for site speed impact  YARPP: for displaying related posts *Helps your SEO*  Security plugins: there are several  “lorem ipsum” – when designing; zero config, FREE  Clone posts – when designing; zero config, FREE ©2014 Karen McCamy  FreelanceTechnologyReview.com
11. One Final Caution  Check your theme for desired function  If it’s already in your theme, don’t duplicate through a plugin!  Disable theme function if you choose to go with a plugin!  Common theme inclusions:  Social buttons  SEO  Related posts ©2014 Karen McCamy  FreelanceTechnologyReview.com
12. ©2014 Karen McCamy  FreelanceTechnologyReview.com Email me: kmccamy@freelancetechnologyreview.com