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development Domain Development: 5 Free Plugins Every WordPress Site Needs

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Welcome to a brand new week, and a brand new edition of my series called Domain Development. Last week, I showed you the very basics of how to create a WordPress site. I recommend using the WordPress platform as it's a very simple platform with no experience of coding required.

WordPress is used by approximately 24.7% of all websites and due to its popularity, the platform is well supported with third party themes and plugins. Plugins are essentially extensions to the WordPress system which allow you to increase the functionality of your site. There are almost 40,000 free plugins available for download from WordPress.org with thousands more available at a premium elsewhere.

I want to concentrate of five free plugins that I believe you'll need in order to develop out any of your domain names. Whether you're looking to create a lead generation site, an authority site or a blog, these are five plugins that I'd recommend you install straight away.


1. Yoast SEO
Search engine optimization is the practice of getting free traffic from search engines such as Google and Bing by using a number of different techniques. On page SEO can be covered by using Yoast SEO; a plugin from Joost de Valk and his team which has been installed over 1 million times.

This is the first plugin that I install on any WordPress website I develop, and it's especially useful for setting up lead generation sites on your domain names.

Yoast SEO takes care of page titles, descriptions, meta data, XML sitemaps, breadcrumbs and more. WPBeginner has an excellent tutorial on how to set up and install Yoast SEO here.


2. W3 Total Cache

Recommended by GoDaddy, MediaTemple, HostGator and many other web hosting companies, this plugin basically helps to improve the load time of your website. This is done by using page caching to deliver static page loads which helps to reduce the amount of bandwidth your server uses as well as speeding up the load time for your visitors.

Page loading speed is something that's taken into consideration by search engines when determining your website's keyword ranking. Websites such as Mashable, WPBeginner, Smashing Magazine, Yoast.com and JohnChow.com use W3 Total Cache along with over 900,000 other websites.


3. Login LockDown
This is an excellent security plugin that I hope you'll install today. Login LockDown monitors your website's login page. If a user enters an incorrect password three times (by default), they won't be able to try and log in for another hour (by default).

The plugin will help to guard against anyone trying to guess your password to gain access to your website. Login LockDown is an important plugin to download, especially if you will be running a website such as a lead generation site in which you'll be collecting personal data.


4. Google Analytics by Yoast
Google Analytics is one of the most popular ways of monitoring statistics regarding your website. To install Google Analytics on a website, you'll usually have to manually insert around eight lines of code into your website's footer file.

Fortunately, Google Analytics by Yoast removes the need for inserting code into your WordPress theme files. Once you've installed this plugin, you'll just need to copy and paste your Google Analytics tracking number into the Google Analytics by Yoast settings page within your WordPress dashboard.

From there you'll be able to start tracking visitors to your website.

5. Contact Form 7
It's fairly likely that however you decide to develop your domain name, you'll want to include a contact form. Contact forms allow for a degree of interaction between your visitors and yourself without having to display an email address.

On some websites such as lead generation sites, contact forms are vital. Contact Form 7 is the free plugin that I'd recommend when developing your domains. The simple plugin allows you to design your own contact form and place it on your web page using a simple WordPress shortcode.

Join the 1 million other websites using Contact Form 7 by downloading it for free using the link above.



As this series progresses, we'll start to cover more advanced topics and cover some types of websites in further detail. If you have any specific subjects relating to domain development that you'd like to see covered in this series, then please comment below.



Domain Development is a blog series that teaches you how to create money making websites from your domain portfolio.
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
Good picks.

I would add Duplicator , to take backups and/or move the whole installation to a new domain.
 
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I love your list but would add WordFence, which provides an abundance of information and control to keep predators out and monitor your traffic anytime, including Login LockDown features on steroids!
 
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I have installed all except Login LockDown, I will also suggest Clickbomb Defense Plugin to prevent click bombing and keeping your adsense account more safe :)

Regards,
Sam
 
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Good picks.

I would add Duplicator , to take backups and/or move the whole installation to a new domain.

So the backup will be on "auto' or do I get to make the backup manually? I ask this because I am not good with programming/database etc.

Thanks,
 
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So the backup will be on "auto' or do I get to make the backup manually? I ask this because I am not good with programming/database etc.

Thanks,

I think this plugin won't take automated backups (I haven' tried the paid Pro version)

But if you want to clone your WP installation or move to another domain, it makes this process a breeze.
 
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Hello! I just launched my free Wordpress plugin that focuses on domains, it is called Domain Check. It would be a great fit for anyone with a Wordpress site who likes domains :)

It is all in your Wordpress admin and you can search for domain names, check SSL certificates, there is a domain name extractor and a bulk domain checker, you can import your domains and mark them as Owned, and it does email alerts for multiple email addresses per domain or SSL cert for expiration. It also has a dashboard because its nice to have a list of all your domains and SSL certs in your Wordpress admin, especially if you have multiple providers. I also updates the coupons and deals from a lot of big registrars daily so the coupon codes always work and you can set your primary registrar from the list of them so all the buttons and links in the plugin go to that registrar.

I made it in my free time as a personal project because I'm a programmer and I like programming. For the in-context buttons and links in the plugin I am using the affiliate links from the coupons so I can try to make some money so the plugin stays free, does not need a subscription or a pro version, and I can keep updating it. Still waiting for that first dollar, but it would be so cool if I could work on it part time or full time someday. Here are the links:

http://domaincheckplugin.com
https://wordpress.org/plugins/domain-check/

Feel free to PM me with feedback if you install and try my plugin. If you need support please PM me instead of leaving a review on Wordpress.org to get support. I am brand new to the forum, (this is my second post ever!)
 
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FWIW, Google analytics code does not go in your footer. Correct place is in the <head> section of your page.
And check your theme settings before you install an unnecessary plugin - many have options for entering header /footer JavaScript.
 
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