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.
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.