Recommended WordPress plugins

Using WordPress successfully depends on the use of plugins. The core CMS provides a functional platform, but the capability of your WordPress site can be enhanced dramatically by installing plugins.

Having said that, not all plugins are created equal. Some are painstakingly developed and maintained by a professional team, others are created as a one-off or part-time project with little thought given to long-term planning or maintenance.

For that reason, it is importing to be quite discerning when installing a plugin on your WordPress website. Some measures you can take to ensure you’re being sufficiently choosy include:

• Reading reviews from other people who have installed the plugin before taking the plunge yourself.
• Check when the plugin was last updated and check how frequently it has been updated in the past. Are the developers serious about keeping the plugin secure and up-to-date? Even the most secure WordPress hosting can be rendered useless if an insecure plugin is installed on the site.
• Check its compatible with the latest version of WordPress (which your website should be running if you want to keep it secure).
• Assess whether the plugin is adding real value to the website.

With all that in mind, here are some plugins that meet those requirements and that have worked well on our clients’ WordPress websites.

iThemes Security

Here’s an example of a plugin than enhances the security of a WordPress site rather than undermining it. There are several plugins offering a similar service, but this is the one we’ve found to be most effective. 

It provides more than 30 different ways to shore up your site, including preventing malicious users from signing up to your website, preventing brute-force attempts to guess your login, easily change your login page to something other then the default /wp-admin and apply IP address restrictions to the backend of your website.

Anti-Malware Security and Brute-Force Firewall 

Another security plugin, this one specialises in preventing malware detection. In other words, it scans your website to check for any rogue code that has been injected into your website. It also helps you to address any problems it finds and provides a firewall to help prevent new problems.

W3 Total Cache

WordPress relies on good caching in order to run quickly and efficiently. This plugin makes that very easy. This improves user experience for genuine visitors to your website, while also stopping malicious users of the site (i.e. robots scanning for vulnerabilities) impacting the performance of the website.

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These are what we consider to be our recommended WordPress plugins at the time of writing. These things can change so, as recommended above, please carry out your own due diligence before installing. And remember, there is an inherent risk when installing any plugin that is not part of WordPress core, so stay vigilant and keep up with updated versions of your installed plugins.