Instructions for using the plugin in WordPress

You want to learn about plugins in WordPress.

Want to know how to install plugins in WordPress.

And you want to know which plugins are essential for every WordPress site.

I will answer all of these questions in today’s post.

After reading the article, you will understand how to use the WordPress plugin.

What is a plugin?

A plugin is a software version used to add a feature to a WordPress website that it does not support by default. For example, if you want to display social sharing buttons, you must install a plugin that has such functionality.

WordPress is an open source platform, so anyone can write plugins to extend the functionality. There are over 30,000 plugins on the official WordPress plugin directory.

However, you should be aware that installing too many plugins can slow down your website. It’s best to have no more than 15 plugins running at the same time.

How to install and manage plugins

The way to install the plugin is the same as the way to install the theme . That means you have 3 ways to install the plugin

Before you install the plugin, you should consider some plugin information such as downloads, user reviews and last update time. You should install the plugin with high downloads, lots of positive reviews. And of course there is the latest update time. Because there are many plugins the authors have no longer updated. When you install such plugins, you will encounter compatibility issues with newer versions of WordPress.

Now I will demo install the TinyMCE Advanced plugin. By default, the content editor screen in WordPress has quite limited functionality. TinyMCE Advanced adds more power to the editing screen to help you decorate your articles more beautiful.

We choose the first installation method through the plugin search in the Dashboard. This is also the most common form of installation.

To find the plugin, go to Dashboard -> Plugins -> Add New

You enter TinyMCE Advanced in the search box.

Enter TinyMCE Advaned in the Search box

Click the Install Now button , then Activate Plugin to use.

Now you have installed TinyMCE Advanced. You are redirected to the plugin management screen. On this screen you can see the installed plugins. Besides, you can activate, deactivate, delete plugins.

Plugin management screen

After installing the plugin, most plugins you will have a screen to configure how the plugin works. There are a few simple plugins that do not require a setup screen. You just install, activate and use it. 

This custom area is mostly located in Settings . The TinyMCE Advanced plugin we just installed is one of the plugins that has a configuration section located in Settings

Custom area for TinyMCE Advanced

Some essential plugins should be installed

You just built your first WordPress website. Are you wondering which plugin settings to install among thousands of WordPress plugins? That’s also the problem I wondered when I was new to WordPress.

Here is a list of plugins you should have on any WordPress website:

1. Jetpack

The toolkit was developed by Automattic itself, the company that manages WordPress. Called a toolkit because it provides you with dozens of functions such as: view your page statistics such as how many visitors, speed up image loading, protect the page from hackers …

2. Akismet

Also Automattic’s plugin. A plugin that acts as a powerful anti-spam tool.

3. Advanced Tiny MCE

This is the plugin I instructed to install above, the plugin makes it easy for you to decorate your posts.

4. Yoast SEO

Yoast SEO makes it easy to write SEO optimized content. You just need to write content, the plugin will check and notify you which parts have not been optimized for SEO.

On-page SEO becomes super easy with Yoast SEO.

5. W3 Total Cache

Popular cache plugin to speed up your WordPress website.

6. iThemes Security

The most popular security plugin for Websites.

7. Contact Form 7

Create the best contact form

8. Speed ​​Booster Pack

The plugin allows you to improve your page load speed and score higher on speed testing services like GTmetrix , Google PageSpeed , and other speed metering services. 

9. SumoMe

SumoMe is a toolkit to help you increase website traffic.

10. UpdraftPlus

The plugin helps you backup your website and store it on cloud services like Amazon S3, Dropbox, Google Drive.

11. WP Smush

The plugin helps to sharpen the image size, thus contributing to improving website speed.

12. Google Analytics DashBoard for WP

The plugin helps to insert the Google Analytics tracking code in the website. Besides, it also displays Google Analytics reports right in the WordPress Dashboard.

13. ShortCodes Ultimate for WordPress

A plugin that provides you with a lot of shortcodes to help decorate your posts.

Above is all the basics of using plugins in WordPress.

As always, if you have difficulty using the plugin, leave a comment below.