What are WordPress plugins?
WordPress plugins are a script or software application that is installed on WordPress. These plugins enable you to customize your site and add more touches and settings to your site.
For example, you want to add buttons to share your articles on social media; All you have to do is search for this add-on (of which there are many), upload it to your site, and control the way these buttons are displayed, without having to use any programming language or write a single code.
Today, there are about (55,487) plugins available on the WordPress platform, and thousands more are available from third-party sites such as Github, some of which are paid and some of which are free. These plugins enable you to customize your site in all areas.
What can plugins do?
Add-ons provide you with many functions and features, including:
- Improve your SEO
- Enhance performance
- Add contact forms
- Social media buttons
- Protection and copy tools
- Any other functionality you want to add to your site
Simply put, the functions of add-ons are to give you more possibilities to customize your site. All you have to do is specify what you want, and then you can search for the add-on that helps you do this task, or you can even find a developer to program this add-on for you.
How do WordPress plugins work?
The principle of WordPress is based on an open source and free system, and developers can contribute to it, improve it and develop it, by working on developing plugins and programming them to do anything you want.
What add-ons do is add code to your site to make it more interactive, or this add-on can integrate a group of functions together to provide you with the best solutions for your site.
Plugins are powerful tools that enable you to make changes to your WordPress site. You can develop any type of site easily. You can modify your site and turn it into an online store or business site, and much more.
For example, a plugin like Everest Forms allows you to create any type of online form, including a contact form for your site and other forms. Also, adding Yoast SEO allows you to work on improving your site’s appearance on search engines.
The most popular WordPress plugins
There are many distinctive plugins for WordPress , the most famous of which are (3) :
There is no site that does not use this plugin that filters hundreds of millions of spam comments from the web every day.
Akismet verifies user comments and contact form submissions to prevent your site from publishing malicious content. You can also review the unwanted comment on the “Comments” management screen on your blog.
An addition that enables you to create forms using drag-and-drop technology. You can create contact forms, feedback forms, payment forms, and many more.
There is a group of ready-made templates and forms that you can choose and work on, and it is considered one of the fastest WordPress plugins.
One of the best plugins that helps you create pop-ups (popup builder), as well as helps you with marketing and increasing sales.
Using popups and conversion toolkit, you can convert website visitors into subscribers and customers.
One of the best plugins that helps you create lists of potential customers, grow your email list, and many more.
Hello Bar helps you:
- Convert your website visitors into customers.
- Grow your email list and generate new leads.
- Reduce the bounce rate of your site.
- Try to keep visitors on your site as long as possible with pop-ups.
An add-on that allows you to add live chat directly to your site quickly and easily, as it provides you with instant communication with visitors and customers on the site and helps them solve their problems.
WooCommerce is the world’s most popular e-commerce plugin and is open source.
Whether you’re starting a business, handling brick-and-mortar online retail, or developing websites for clients, using WooCommerce for your store gives you more business power and flexibility.
Through WooCommerce, you can create beautiful and distinctive interfaces for your store, customize your pages according to your requirements, and many other features such as (how products are displayed, subscription methods, pricing, etc.).
Wordfence includes a firewall and malware scanner created to protect WordPress; It is considered one of the most important WordPress security plugins.
How to choose the right add-on?
You should pay attention to some things when you decide to search and download a new add-on.
- You should only install the plugin that your site needs
- Before installing a plugin, research enough information about it to make sure it meets your needs
- Make sure the plugin is compatible with your site
- Check the number of downloads, so you know how powerful this add-on is
- You can check the reviews for the add-on, to make sure of its quality
How do you install a WordPress plugin?
There are several ways to download and install plugins on your site.
Method #1: You have to follow these steps:
1- From within your control panel, you must go to (Add-ons >> Add new)
2- A new window will open in which you can search for the add-on you want and install it, or you can see the most popular add-ons to choose from.
3- After clicking on (Install Now), you must wait a little while, then an option will appear for you to activate the add-on and activate it so that you can start setting it up.
Method #2: Download the add-on on the computer and then upload it to the control panel.
1- From within your control panel, you must go to (Adds >> Add New) and then choose (Upload Add-on)
2- After that, a window will appear for you to choose and upload the add-on:
Method #3:
The extension is installed via File Transfer Protocol (FTP), but it is not recommended for beginners.
How much do WordPress plugins cost?
There are a very large number of plugins that you can upload to your site (4) :
1- Completely free add-ons.
2- Add-ons that offer you a free version and a paid version with higher capabilities, such as Yoast’s SEO add-on . Which provides you with some different features to improve your site for SEO.
For example, the free version allows you to work on only one keyword, while the paid version allows you to work on 5 keywords.
3- Fully paid add-ons such as ( BackupBuddy ).
Paid add-ons are add-ons that do not have a free plan and you can subscribe to them either monthly or annually.
:BackupBuddy add
It is one of the best add-ons that allow you to make a backup copy of your site. What distinguishes this add-on from others is that it will not only make a backup copy of the private database, but it will also make a backup copy (of templates, media, add-ons, etc.).
Add Wprockect:
It is one of the best plugins to speed up WordPress, and it is one of the most powerful caching plugins, and it performs the process of caching the page. It contributes to increasing the loading speed of your site (which is an important factor in improving search results).
common questions
1- Do WordPress plugins conflict with each other?
This sometimes happens when you download more than one add-on that performs the same tasks. For example, when you download both the Yoast SEO add-on and the Rank Math add-on (as the two add-ons perform the same task, which is to improve the search results for your site), this will lead to a conflict in the work of the two add-ons and they will not work as desired.
2- Will loading add-ons slow down your site?
This happens, if you download a lot of add-ons randomly or you download add-ons from an unreliable source (so you do not know the amount of commands and scripts that the add-on performs).
3- Can the add-on be deleted?
You can delete or disable a plugin from within the WordPress control panel, by going (Plugins >> Post Plugins).
A new window will open for you containing all the add-ons on your site. You must choose the add-on and then you can (delete, disable, or update it).
4- Are WordPress plugins safe?
It is safe if you download it directly from wordpress.org , or download it from a trusted source, so you should only search for trusted sources to download plugins from.
5- Do I need to pay to install WordPress plugins?
You need this if you are using WordPress.com as hosting for your site, as you must choose one of the paid hosting plans in order to use WordPress plugins.
6- Do WordPress plugins increase hosting space?
It depends on the add-on. If it stores information in the database, it will inevitably increase your hosting consumption space, but others do not increase anything because they are just code that is inserted and does not store any information.
Conclusion
There are a large number of plugins that you can work on and try when you work on WordPress. You will inevitably need to choose a group of plugins that will help you and make your work easier. You just have to know which plugins suit you? What are the sources from which the add-on will be downloaded
