What is a WordPress plugin?

WordPress allows you to create state-of-the-art, functional websites.
Basically, these websites meet many important criteria.
But to make WordPress websites even more advanced, you can provide them with all kinds of extra functionalities.
To make that happen, you can use plugins.

What is a WordPress plugin for?

WordPress has nearly 60,000 plugins. Some plugins deliver more than others, but all have their own added value. A plugin allows you to add additional features to a website. As an example, let’s take one of the most downloaded plugins: Gravity Forms.

Gravity Forms is a popular plugin that allows you to easily create contact forms for your website.
This makes it easy for visitors to contact you, such as to purchase products or services.
Using a plugin like Gravity Forms has several advantages over manually coding and building forms.
Plugins are designed to integrate seamlessly with your WordPress website.
They offer simple drag-and-drop interfaces that allow you to create and customize forms without technical knowledge.
In addition, many contact form plugins offer extensive features such as spam protection, integration with email marketing tools, file uploads and more.
These features are often more difficult to implement when building forms manually.

We distinguish two types

Surely all the thousands of different plugins can be easily divided into two categories: Free and Premium plugins.
As the name suggests, free plugins are free to download and use.
Premium plugins require a one-time payment or subscription.

Although many free plugins are of high quality, they often offer only basic functionality. Premium plugins usually have additional features that are not available for the free version. In addition, premium plugins also tend to be better tested and maintained because they are supported by commercial companies that want to keep their reputation high.

How do you add a plugin?

To add a plugin to your WordPress website, you have two options: you can install a plugin from the library or you can upload a plugin yourself. Below we explain to you step by step how to do this.

Choosing from the library

1. Log in to your WordPress dashboard.
2. On the left menu, navigate to “Plugins” and select “New plugin.
3. You now enter the plugin library, where thousands of free plugins are available.
4. Use the search bar to find a specific plugin.
5. Have you found the plugin you want?
   Then click the “Install Now” button.
6. After installation, click ‘Activate’ to enable the plugin.

Upload yourself as a .zip file

If you downloaded a plugin from an external source, such as a premium plugin or a custom plugin, you can upload it manually:

1. In your WordPress dashboard, go to “Plugins” and then “New plugin.
2. At the top of the page, click the “Upload Plugin” button.
3. Click ‘Choose File’ and select the .zip file of the plugin on your computer.
4. Then click “Install Now.
5. After installation, click ‘Activate’ to start using the plugin.

4 tips from 2manydots

1. Choose reliability

With nearly 60,000 plugins in the database, unfortunately there are rotten apples among them.
Therefore, always choose reliable plugins.
Scour the Internet for information about the plugin in question or scroll through reviews.
This will give you a clear picture of the plugin you want to install.
Safety always comes first.

2. Limit the number

We strongly advise against installing too many unnecessary plugins on a website.
The more plugins, the slower your website can become and the more security issues can arise.
Often we can also build the functionalities of plugins into the theme.
This offers more flexibility in the future and allows us to make the website significantly faster.
The main advantage of this is that less code is added to the backend of the website.

Google likes to dish out the best websites to their visitors.
Speed is an important criterion.
If your website is slow, Google prefers not to show it in the search results.
And that, of course, is disastrous for your findability.
Therefore, only install plugins that really add value to your website.

3. Make sure everything is up to date

The creators behind the plugins often go to great lengths to create the best versions of the plugin. Compare it to apps on your phone. You need to update those every so often to take advantage of the latest features. The same goes for WordPress plugins. Keep an eye on the updates and don’t wait too long for this. This way you limit security issues and get the most out of your plugins!

4. Always make backups

Not every plugin is a hit.
Sometimes new plugins may not work well with your current theme or other installed plugins.
This can lead to errors or a non-functioning website.
A backup allows you to restore your site to the previous version.

Which plugins do we recommend?

We also use several plugins ourselves to provide our websites with the necessary upgrades.
We would like to share a selection of our favorite plugins with you, so you can be sure that you are using reliable and effective plugins.

Redirection

Redirection is a powerful plugin for managing 301 redirects and tracking 404 errors on your website.
This plugin is especially useful if you are changing pages or URLs because it prevents visitors from landing on dead links.
This keeps your website user-friendly and maintains your SEO ranking.
It is highly recommended for anyone who regularly makes changes to the structure of their website.

Filebird

FileBird is a plugin that makes managing media files in the WordPress library easy.
It allows you to create folders and better organize your files, which is especially useful if you have a lot of images, videos or documents on your website.
By keeping your media organized, you save time and improve workflow when working with your website.

Relevanssi

Relevanssi is an advanced search plugin that replaces and significantly improves the default WordPress search function.
With Relevanssi, search results become more relevant and specific, as the plugin searches entire texts, tags, categories and even custom fields.
This leads to a better user experience, as visitors can more easily find the content they are looking for.
It is especially recommended for websites with a lot of content or complex structures.

Advanced Custom Fields

Advanced Custom Fields(ACF) is a versatile WordPress plugin that allows you to easily add custom fields to posts, pages, users and other content types.
With ACF, you can create different types of fields such as text, images, check boxes and more to add additional information to your content.
In short, ACF gives your WordPress website just a little more depth.

Rank Math

Are you interested in SEO?
Then RankMath is a plugin you must have.
RankMath is a plugin that allows you to optimize your content to rank higher in the search engines.
This plugin analyzes your content and gives clear suggestions of how to do it better.
There is a free and paid version of it.
Want to know everything about RankMath?
We have written an extensive manual for it.

Gravity Forms

We’ve mentioned it before, but there are more WordPress plugins that create contact forms for your website.
Contact Form 7 is another such plugin.
This plugin is certainly reliable, but we don’t actually prefer it.
In fact, Gravity Forms has more features than other contact form plugins and it also looks professional.

Check out our whitelist!

Want to make sure a plugin meets the highest security standards?
We have created a whitelist of plugins that meet our quality and security standards.
This does not mean that missing plugins are unsafe.
Be sure to check the reviews and do your own research before installing a plugin!

Have questions? Get in touch with us!

Have questions about plugins, WordPress websites or everything in between? Get in touch with us! We are happy to help you with all your pressing questions.