If you are a WordPress user like me, you probably use plugins to add extra features such as improve your security on your website! Optimizing your blog for search engines or present images in an elegant way etc.
There are currently nearly 30,000 free plugins to choose from in the WordPress plugin directory, so it is not that easy to find the perfect plugin. Today I want to highlight the five most popular free WordPress plugins right now in the directory that is awesome in different aspects. Some of them are must-have WordPress plugins.
I have installed a lot of plugins on my blogs, but sometimes they do not meet the requirements I want, and I have to uninstall them. Nowadays I mostly use plugins that I know that many people use and that the plugin is updated regularly. But sometimes you can find a great plugin out of the ordinary that stand out from the crowd.
All five of the plugin in the list today is the most downloaded plugin right now and they are updated regularly by WordPress versions. Here are five popular free WordPress plugins I can recommend but I guess you already use some of them on your own websites. If not, you must try these plugins. I also added a how to getting started link for every plugins to make it easier for you to get the plugins up and running in no time.
Contact Form 7
Contact Form 7 is a simple free plugin to create and edit multiple contact forms. You can easily create and customize the forms with simple markups. Contact Form 7 supports Ajax-powered submitting, CAPTCHA, Akismet spam filtering and much more. I have been using this plugins for many of my blogs and I must say it is very easy to use and customize.
WordPress SEO by Yoast
The WordPress SEO by Yoast plugins is one of the most used SEO plugin out there. With this plugin you can optimize your website SEO and focus more on your articles. If you think it seems complicated to configure the plugins, no need for worries. WPBeginner has written an excellent article about How to Install and Setup WordPress SEO Plugin by Yoast. This is a great SEO plugin you can use to improve the SEO for your site. This is a must-have plugin.
Jetpack
With the Jetpack WordPress plugin you can supercharge your website with ton of powerful features. Just install Jetpack and you get access to features such as Mobile Theme, Infinite Scroll, WordPress.com Stats, Jetpack Comments, Related Posts, Spelling and Grammar, Gravatar Hovercards, Contact Form, Custom CSS, Shortcode Embeds plus much more.
All in One SEO Pack
Another very popular SEO WordPress plugin are All in One SEO Pack that will help you automatically optimize your WordPress website for search engines such as Google. There are lot of features included in this plugin such as XML Sitemap support, Google analytics support, advanced canonical uRLs, generates META tags automatically plus much more.
WooCommerce – excelling eCommerce
WooCommerce WooThemes is the number one WordPress eCommerce plugin to help you set up a store or start selling anything online. The plugin is very customizable and flexible. You can easily keep an eye on incoming sales, store performance, reports, statistics from the WordPress dashboard. WooCommerce supports PayPal Standard (for accepting Credit Card and PayPal account payments), BACS, Cash on Delivery, flat rate shipping, and free shipping. Tuts+ has written two excellent articles on how to getting started with WooCommerce: Initial Setup and Launching Your Store that you should read before you set up your first online store.