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WordPress Plugins I Use

Here's a video I made based on some requests and suggestions from previous Sunday Updates.

Links:

My own stuff (mentioned in the intro):

The other stuff (main video content):

Wishing you a productive week,

Sunday Update Archive

Please leave a comment below.

Note that I don’t reply to all comments, but I do read them all. If I don’t reply to your comment, it most likely means that I agree with what you say and don’t have anything meaningful to add, myself. I appreciate and read all comments and your comments play an important part in what I write about, so keep them coming.

Spammy comments are always filtered or removed. No surprise there.

44 comments

Comments are closed. This discussion is archived from the original site.

  1. Byron

    Hey Shane! Nice post!

    Your link for the Content Builder needs a colon after the http. :)

  2. Kal

    I thought for sure Jetpack would have been on your list!

    1. Shane

      Jetpack has some nice features, but it also has a lot of stuff I don't use. I have it active on one of my main sites, but I have almost all features deactivated, so it's really not a critical plugin for me.

  3. Leanne Chesser

    You've shared some cool plugins (I don't think they're boring at all :). I like the CMS Page Order plugin! I'll definitely keep that in mind for later. I do use WordPress SEO by Yoast (love it) and Pretty Link. I use a different backup plugin. And I use CommentLuv Premium, which has a reply function (among other things). It's one of my favorites. Loving your Viral Quiz Builder, too.

    Just to let you know . . . the link to Thrive Content Builder isn't working. It's got http// at the beginning.

    1. Shane

      Thank you, Leanne! Glad you liked my plugin recommendations. And thanks for the note about the broken link. Fixed it now.

  4. David Delaey

    Hi Shane,

    Thank you for sharing that :-) Really valuable.

    Do you also use a caching plugin?

    Do you use a security plugin to prevent from hacking? Or what do you use there?

    Is it possible to buy just one Thrive Theme? Or is a subscription the only way to get access to Thrive Themes?

    Thanks,
    David

    1. Shane

      Hi David,

      I've used caching plugins and have had mixed results with them. I'll probably be writing a post with some test results related to caching sometime soon as well.

      Right now, individual themes are not available yet, but we're aiming to have that set up sometime in September.

      1. David Delaey

        Hi Shane,

        Thanks for the answers. I would be pretty interested to see those test results on caching.
        Also looking forward to see your offer on individual themes.

        What about an anti spamming plugin? Do you use Akismet, or any other way?

        Thanks,
        David

        1. Shane

          I've used Akismet, Simple Comments, Facebook Comments and Disqus and all of them have been effective anti-spam measures. I'd say Akismet is the least effective of the bunch, although I haven't used Disqus in a while, so I don't know what that's currently like.

  5. Don

    Hi Shane what about Google Analytics do you use them? or do you steer clear

    1. Shane

      Yes, I do use Google Analytics. On some sites, I use a plugin to integrate it into my site, on others I just paste the tracking code into a custom header code field.

      1. JJ

        GA? never! Would you invite a spy to dinner? Use StatCounter Stats instead. Google steals far too much returns little or nothing IMHO.

        Great update as always Shane. Have you ever looked at using Duplicator? I also use GD Press Tools for DB management and Wp-Insert for ad management.

  6. Alex

    Hey Shane,

    Why you using YOAST? I can't stand it.

    I find SEO Ultimate so much better. Especially for auto-intralinking with deeplink juggernaut.

    I'm interested to hear your opinions...

    Warmest Regards,

    Alex

    2. Shane

      Hi Alex,

      I love Yoast SEO. Does everything I need from an SEO plugin and I find it very easy to set up. I only care about the very basics of SEO, so maybe that's why I haven't found anything about the plugin that doesn't do what I need it to do.

  7. Michael

    Hi Shane,
    Interesting list, some are new to me, some I already use.
    I will definitely try out the ones that are new to me.
    Especially the comments plugin.

    One question regarding the seo plugin by Yoast:
    Do you have any recommendations regarding the settings,
    they seem to be very complicated.
    Regards,
    Michael

      1. Michael

        Thanks for the tip Shane,
        I'm checking it out now.
        Michael

  8. Miles Austin

    Shane, CMS Page Order and Q2W3 Fixed Widgets are both new to me and will be added to my sites and those of many clients. Also, I forgot about WP Sharely and definitely in a position to implement this now.

    Thanks for the reminder and for sharing how you use them.

  9. Amy Hagerup

    I will definitely check these out, Shane. I agree with the commenter above - am wondering if you use a caching plug in and another one for backup. thanks! amy

    1. Shane

      Apart from WP-DBmanager, I rely on daily backups that I get via my hosting account as the second layer of security, so I'm not using any additional backup system.

      As for caching plugins: I have gotten some mixed results with those, which is why there was no recommendation for one in this video.

  10. Zach

    Hi Shane,

    Excellent video! What comment plug-in are you using, btw? And, what are your thoughts on Disqus as a comment plug-in?

    1. JP

      If your intention is to get users to engage, then anything you put in front of them will reduce it. I never respond to FB login plugins and I find Disqus does not work on 99% of sites I visit.

    2. Shane

      Thank you, Zach!

      I'm not using any comment plugin, actually. These are just regular WordPress comments. Disqus seems like a good commenting system to me. The major advantage is that it comes with spam protection and a subscription feature built in.

    1. Zach

      Hi Kimberly,

      What plug-in are you referring to that hasn't been updated in two years? Shane listed out quite a few in his video. Care to elaborate just a bit, perhaps?

      Thanks in advance!

    2. Shane

      Hello Kimberly,

      There are some plugins in the list that haven't been updated in a while, but that's not necessarily a problem. For example, the no self pings plugin is extremely simple. It makes one very minor change to the way WordPress behaves and there's simply no reason for this plugin to be updated regularly.

  12. Ed Pickus

    Hi Shane. Great video. Thanks. I appreciate the info very much.

    Just wondering. Do you know if there is a plugin that allows me to add a line break (br/) into my headlines? I have been struggling with this for a while and I have not found a simple way to do this easily.

    Thanks for the help.

  13. Ed Pickus

    Hi, Me again. The link to the Thrive Content Builder doesn't seem to be working. Just wanted to let you know. All the best, Ed

  14. Peter Sundstrom

    One of my favourite plugins is Duplicator. Not only can it clone WP sites, it can also be used for backups and it's free.

  15. David Tschoepe

    Some of these plugins you list are VERY old. I saw one that hadn't been updated in 2 years. Another that stated it was only compatible up to version 3.4. Do you run very old versions of Wordpress on your sites or something?

    1. Shane

      No, these are all running with the latest version of WordPress. Some plugins simply don't need to be updated frequently, especially if the plugin's function is very similar. It can just keep on working without further changes and that has been the case for several of the plugins in this list.

  16. Steve

    Great Shane, thanks for the info. Two questions. 1. Do a lot of plugins slow down the load time of a site? and 2. The Q23W fixed widget works well with HC but doesn't work with Thrive call to action widget. I have moved the widget around the page but can't get it to work. It's not a big deal but is there a reason for that?
    Steve

    1. Shane

      In general, yes: the more plugins you have, the slower the site tends to get. However, it's not quite as simple as it may seem at first glance. There are two main factors that you need to consider. The first is whether the plugin affects anything on the front-end or not. For example, the CMS Page Order plugin has no effect whatsoever on the visitor-facing part of your site, so it doesn't have any speed impact.
      The second factor has to do with how well a plugin is coded. You could have a plugin making a simple change to your site, but have it coded in a way that causes a massive slow-down. Or you could have a plugin that makes a big difference to your site but have it coded so well that it barely affects the speed at all. The only way to find out is to speed-test your website (e.g. with GTmetrix) and check whether a new plugin is impacting your site speed too much or not.

      Please post about the Fixed Widget issue in our support forums. This looks like it must be a bug, so one of our support guys should take a look at it.

  17. Bjarne

    Hello Shane,

    Thanks a lot for your advice about content builder. The best advise I have got for a long time. Saves me time and gives my customers a better experience.
    And your video has a good voyce over, passion, easy to understand and nice demos.
    You have a new fan :)
    Best regards,
    Bjarne

  19. Joerg

    Hi shane,

    Good Stuff but how about with your "GhostURL" Plugin? I have this Plugin from you and you doesn't recommend it anymore?

    Greetings Joerg