From http://www.meetup.com/Milwaukee-WordPress-MeetUp/events/228040925/
Geoff Myers, digital marketing consultant/strategist and president of SimDex LLC, will be presenting an overview of the best plugins that he – and many other WordPress developers – use regularly for client projects and highly recommend.
Geoff will present and discuss some of the best plugins available in each of the following categories:
• Analytics
• Backups
• Calendars/Events
• Comments
• Ecommerce
• Email Marketing
• Forms
• Forums/Discussions
• Galleries/Sliders
• Import/Export
• Migrations/Cloning
• Performance
• Security
• SEO
• Social Media
• Tools/Utilities
• Videos
• More!
More than Just Lines on a Map: Best Practices for U.S Bike Routes
The Best WordPress Plugins for Every Purpose (Recommended by Developers)
1. THE BEST WORDPRESS PLUGINS
FOR EVERY PURPOSE
(RECOMMENDED BY DEVELOPERS)
GEOFF MYERS PRESENTS
2. GEOFF@SIMDEX.ORG | WWW.SIMDEX.ORG | 414.455.6675
BEFORE WE BEGIN…
ABOUT GEOFF MYERS
▸ Founded SimDex in 2004
▸ Web Solutions for Small + Medium Sized Businesses
▸ Digital Marketing Consultant + Strategist
▸ 10+ Years as Full Stack Web Designer + Developer
▸ 5+ Years of WordPress Development Experience
▸ 50+ WordPress Sites Built, Maintained + Marketed
▸ Formal Background in Computer Science
▸ Get In Touch: geoff@simdex.org or simdex.org or 414.455.6675
3. GEOFF@SIMDEX.ORG | WWW.SIMDEX.ORG | 414.455.6675
THE BEST WORDPRESS PLUGINS FOR EVERY PURPOSE
WHAT SHOULD I CONSIDER WHEN RESEARCHING A PLUGIN?
1. Features + Functionality
2. User Interface + Experience (UI/UX)
3. Customization + Flexibility
4. Responsive Design + Mobile Friendliness
5. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
6. Performance + Speed
7. Security + Stability
8. Developer + Community Support
4. GEOFF@SIMDEX.ORG | WWW.SIMDEX.ORG | 414.455.6675
THE BEST WORDPRESS PLUGINS FOR EVERY PURPOSE
IMPORTANT QUESTIONS TO ASK FIRST
▸ What features and functionality do you need?
▸ What integrations do you want with other plugins?
▸ How compatible is your theme?
▸ How technologically savvy are you?
▸ What is your budget?
▸ How willing are you to learn?
▸ How much support do you need?
5. GEOFF@SIMDEX.ORG | WWW.SIMDEX.ORG | 414.455.6675
THE BEST WORDPRESS PLUGINS FOR EVERY PURPOSE
WHERE SHOULD I GO TO FIND A PLUGIN?
▸ WordPress Plugin Directory (wordpress.org/plugins)
▸ WooThemes (woothemes.com)
▸ Elegant Themes (elegantthemes.com)
▸ WPMU DEV (wpmudev.org)
▸ CodeCanyon (codecanyon.net)
▸ Plugin Developer Websites
(gravityforms.com, yoast.com…)
6. GEOFF@SIMDEX.ORG | WWW.SIMDEX.ORG | 414.455.6675
THE BEST WORDPRESS PLUGINS FOR EVERY PURPOSE
A SMALL SAMPLE OF PLUGIN CATEGORIES
▸ Analytics
▸ Backups
▸ Calendars/Events
▸ Comments
▸ Development
▸ Ecommerce
▸ Email Marketing
▸ Forms
▸ Forums/Discussions
▸ Images/Videos
▸ Import/Export
▸ Maps
▸ Migrations/Cloning
▸ Performance
▸ Security
▸ SEO
▸ Social Media
▸ Tools/Utilities
▸ More…
7. GEOFF@SIMDEX.ORG | WWW.SIMDEX.ORG | 414.455.6675
THE BEST WORDPRESS PLUGINS FOR EVERY PURPOSE
BEST PLUGINS FOR WEBSITE ANALYTICS + INSIGHTS
▸ Google Analyticator
▸ Google Analytics by Yoast
▸ Google Analytics Dashboard for WP
8. GEOFF@SIMDEX.ORG | WWW.SIMDEX.ORG | 414.455.6675
THE BEST WORDPRESS PLUGINS FOR EVERY PURPOSE
BEST PLUGINS FOR WEBSITE BACKUPS
▸ BackupBuddy
▸ BackUpWordPress
▸ UpdraftPlus
▸ WP-DB-Backup
9. GEOFF@SIMDEX.ORG | WWW.SIMDEX.ORG | 414.455.6675
THE BEST WORDPRESS PLUGINS FOR EVERY PURPOSE
BEST PLUGINS FOR CALENDARS + EVENTS
▸ Events Manager
▸ The Events Calendar
10. GEOFF@SIMDEX.ORG | WWW.SIMDEX.ORG | 414.455.6675
THE BEST WORDPRESS PLUGINS FOR EVERY PURPOSE
BEST PLUGINS FOR USER COMMENTS
▸ Akismet
▸ Disable Comments
▸ Disqus Comment System
11. GEOFF@SIMDEX.ORG | WWW.SIMDEX.ORG | 414.455.6675
THE BEST WORDPRESS PLUGINS FOR EVERY PURPOSE
BEST PLUGINS FOR DEVELOPERS
▸ Advanced Custom Fields (create create custom fields)
▸ Child Theme Configurator (create child themes)
▸ Custom Post Type UI (create custom post types
and taxonomies)
▸ Theme Check (check WordPress
theme best practices)
▸ Types (create custom post types,
taxonomies,and custom fields)
▸ What The File (identity templates)
12. GEOFF@SIMDEX.ORG | WWW.SIMDEX.ORG | 414.455.6675
THE BEST WORDPRESS PLUGINS FOR EVERY PURPOSE
BEST PLUGINS FOR ECOMMERCE + SHOPPING CARTS
▸ WooCommerce
▸ WooCommerce Premium Extensions
(many, many plugins with various features)
▸ Braintree (payment processor)
▸ PayPal Pro (payment processor)
▸ Stripe (payment processor)
13. GEOFF@SIMDEX.ORG | WWW.SIMDEX.ORG | 414.455.6675
THE BEST WORDPRESS PLUGINS FOR EVERY PURPOSE
BEST PLUGINS FOR EMAIL MARKETING INTEGRATION
▸ MailChimp for WordPress
▸ MailPoet Newsletters
14. GEOFF@SIMDEX.ORG | WWW.SIMDEX.ORG | 414.455.6675
THE BEST WORDPRESS PLUGINS FOR EVERY PURPOSE
BEST PLUGINS FOR CUSTOM FORMS
▸ Contact Form 7
▸ Fast Secure Contact Form
▸ Gravity Forms
▸ Ninja Forms
15. GEOFF@SIMDEX.ORG | WWW.SIMDEX.ORG | 414.455.6675
THE BEST WORDPRESS PLUGINS FOR EVERY PURPOSE
BEST PLUGINS FOR FORUMS + DISCUSSION BOARDS
▸ bbPress
16. GEOFF@SIMDEX.ORG | WWW.SIMDEX.ORG | 414.455.6675
THE BEST WORDPRESS PLUGINS FOR EVERY PURPOSE
BEST PLUGINS FOR IMAGE + VIDEO GALLERIES + SLIDERS
▸ Gallery
▸ Image Widget
▸ Meta Slider
▸ NextGEN Gallery
▸ Slider
▸ Slider Revolution
17. GEOFF@SIMDEX.ORG | WWW.SIMDEX.ORG | 414.455.6675
THE BEST WORDPRESS PLUGINS FOR EVERY PURPOSE
BEST PLUGINS FOR IMPORTING + EXPORTING DATA
▸ WordPress Importer
▸ WP All Import
18. GEOFF@SIMDEX.ORG | WWW.SIMDEX.ORG | 414.455.6675
THE BEST WORDPRESS PLUGINS FOR EVERY PURPOSE
BEST PLUGINS FOR EMBEDDING MAPS
▸ Google Maps Widget
▸ MapPress
▸ WP Google Maps
19. GEOFF@SIMDEX.ORG | WWW.SIMDEX.ORG | 414.455.6675
THE BEST WORDPRESS PLUGINS FOR EVERY PURPOSE
BEST PLUGINS FOR CLONING + MIGRATING WEBSITES
▸ All-in-One WP Migration
▸ Duplicator
▸ WP Migrate DB
20. GEOFF@SIMDEX.ORG | WWW.SIMDEX.ORG | 414.455.6675
THE BEST WORDPRESS PLUGINS FOR EVERY PURPOSE
BEST PLUGINS FOR PERFORMANCE OPTIMIZATION (PART 1 OF 2)
▸ CloudFlare (content delivery network)
▸ EWWW Image Optimizer (image optimization)
▸ Imsanity (automatic image resizing)
▸ P3 (Plugin Performance Profiler)
(diagnostics + troubleshooting)
▸ Query Monitor
(diagnostics + troubleshooting)
21. GEOFF@SIMDEX.ORG | WWW.SIMDEX.ORG | 414.455.6675
THE BEST WORDPRESS PLUGINS FOR EVERY PURPOSE
▸ W3 Total Cache (caching + minification)
▸ WP-Optimize (database optimization)
▸ WP Smush (image optimization)
▸ WP Super Cache
(caching + minification)
BEST PLUGINS FOR PERFORMANCE OPTIMIZATION (PART 2 OF 2)
22. GEOFF@SIMDEX.ORG | WWW.SIMDEX.ORG | 414.455.6675
THE BEST WORDPRESS PLUGINS FOR EVERY PURPOSE
BEST PLUGINS FOR SECURITY + PRIVACY
▸ Advanced Automatic Updates (automatic WP updates)
▸ Easy Updates Manager (automatic WP updates)
▸ iThemes Security (security best practices)
▸ Login LockDown (login protection)
▸ Really Simple SSL (force HTTPS/SSL)
▸ Sucuri Security (malware scanner)
▸ Wordfence Security
(malware scanner)
23. GEOFF@SIMDEX.ORG | WWW.SIMDEX.ORG | 414.455.6675
THE BEST WORDPRESS PLUGINS FOR EVERY PURPOSE
BEST PLUGINS FOR SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (SEO)
▸ All in One SEO Pack
▸ Google XML Sitemaps
▸ Yoast SEO
24. GEOFF@SIMDEX.ORG | WWW.SIMDEX.ORG | 414.455.6675
THE BEST WORDPRESS PLUGINS FOR EVERY PURPOSE
BEST PLUGINS FOR SOCIAL MEDIA SHARING + INTEGRATION
▸ AddThis
▸ AddToAny
▸ Custom Facebook Feed
▸ Shareaholic
▸ ShareThis
▸ Social Networks Auto-Poster
25. GEOFF@SIMDEX.ORG | WWW.SIMDEX.ORG | 414.455.6675
THE BEST WORDPRESS PLUGINS FOR EVERY PURPOSE
BEST PLUGINS FOR SOCIAL NETWORKS + COMMUNITY BUILDING
▸ BuddyPress
26. GEOFF@SIMDEX.ORG | WWW.SIMDEX.ORG | 414.455.6675
THE BEST WORDPRESS PLUGINS FOR EVERY PURPOSE
BEST PLUGINS FOR TOOLS + UTILITIES (PART 1 OF 2)
▸ Admin Columns (view, edit, filter, and sort posts and pages inline)
▸ Better Search Replace (find and replace in MySQL database)
▸ Broken Link Checker
(find and fix links + images with 404 errors)
▸ InfiniteWP
(manage multiple WordPress sites)
▸ ManageWP
(manage multiple WordPres sites)
▸ Multi Plugin Installer
(bulk install plugins automatically)
27. GEOFF@SIMDEX.ORG | WWW.SIMDEX.ORG | 414.455.6675
THE BEST WORDPRESS PLUGINS FOR EVERY PURPOSE
BEST PLUGINS FOR TOOLS + UTILITIES (PART 2 OF 2)
▸ Nav Menu Roles (control access to menus)
▸ Page Restrict (control access to content)
▸ Redirection (easily create 301 redirects)
▸ Regenerate Thumbnails
(recreate image thumbnails)
▸ Simple History (log user activity)
▸ User Role Editor
(edit user + group permissions)
28. GEOFF@SIMDEX.ORG | WWW.SIMDEX.ORG | 414.455.6675
THE BEST WORDPRESS PLUGINS FOR EVERY PURPOSE
BEST PLUGINS FOR MISCELLANEOUS (PART 1 OF 2)
▸ Display Widgets (conditionally show widgets)
▸ Duplicate Post (copy posts and pages)
▸ DuracellTomi's Google Tag Manager
▸ Jetpack (many, many features)
▸ Page Builder by Site Origin
(visual layout builder)
▸ Shortcodes Ultimate
(pre-formatted modules)
29. GEOFF@SIMDEX.ORG | WWW.SIMDEX.ORG | 414.455.6675
THE BEST WORDPRESS PLUGINS FOR EVERY PURPOSE
BEST PLUGINS FOR MISCELLANEOUS (PART 2 OF 2)
▸ TablePress (create and edit tables)
▸ TinyMCE Advanced (WYSIWYG editor)
▸ Visual Composer
(visual layout builder)
▸ WPtouch (mobile-friendliness)
30. GEOFF@SIMDEX.ORG | WWW.SIMDEX.ORG | 414.455.6675
THAT’S IT FOR NOW…
THANK YOU!
Questions? Comments?
Get In Touch:
geoff@simdex.org
simdex.org
414.455.6675
31. GEOFF@SIMDEX.ORG | WWW.SIMDEX.ORG | 414.455.6675
THAT’S IT FOR NOW…
THIS PRESENTATION IS AVAILABLE ONLINE:
simdex.org/plugins
simdex.org/plugins.pdf
Get In Touch:
geoff@simdex.org
simdex.org
414.455.6675