Adding plugins to WordPress is simple, once you know how.
Most of the time you will add them through your WP Dashboard, but if you purchase a plugin that is not available through the dashboard, you may need to know how to download the plugin and where to upload it into your WordPress folders. Below are screenshots from GoDaddy’s CPanel “FTP File Manager.” If GoDaddy is your hosting provider, navigate to your FTP File Manager from the Tools section of your Options and Settings section of your hosting account interface. If you can’t find this, call GoDaddy and they will walk you through it. (And it wouldn’t hurt to remind them that their interface could be a tad more intuitive.)
Your WordPress plugins are located in a Plugins folder inside the main wp-content folder, and that’s where you’ll upload any additional plugins if you manually install them. Scroll down for a video that will show you how to install WordPress plugins through the dashboard, and if you have any questions, please leave them in the comments section or email me.
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Scroll down below the video to see the list of the plugins I installed. These are my current favorite plugins that I install on nearly every WordPress website that I develop.
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Here is a list of the plugins I usually install when building a new WordPress site:
| BulletProof Security | Website Security Protection: BulletProof Security protects your website against XSS, RFI, CRLF, CSRF, Base64, Code Injection and SQL Injection hacking attempts. One-click .htaccess WordPress security protection. Protects wp-config.php, bb-config.php, php.ini, php5.ini, install.php and readme.html with .htaccess security protection. One-click Website Maintenance Mode (HTTP 503). Additional website security checks: DB errors off, file and folder permissions check… System Info: PHP, MySQL, OS, Server, Memory Usage, IP, SAPI, DNS, Max Upload… Built-in .htaccess file editing, uploading and downloading. |
| Contact Form 7 | Just another contact form plugin. Simple but flexible. |
| Contact Form 7 Honeypot | Add honeypot functionality to the popular Contact Form 7 plugin. |
| Contact Form to DB Extension | Save form submissions to the database from Contact Form 7 and Fast Secure Contact Form. Includes exports and short codes. | Data | Settings | FAQ |
| Limit Login Attempts | Limit rate of login attempts, including by way of cookies, for each IP. |
| Official StatCounter Plugin | Adds the StatCounter tracking code to your blog. To get setup: 1) Activate this plugin 2) Enter your StatCounter Project ID and Security Code in the options page. |
| Open external links in a new window | Opens all external links in a new window. XHTML Strict compliant and search engine optimized (SEO). |
| WordPress SEO | The first true all-in-one SEO solution for WordPress, including on-page content analysis, XML sitemaps and much more. |
| WP No Category Base | Removes ‘/category’ from your category permalinks. |
| Quick Cache | Dramatically improves the performance & speed of your site! Also compatible with WordPress® Multisite/Networking. |
| Plugin Central | Automatically installs WordPress plugins by name and URL. Provides automatic update of multiple plugins. |