Basic Plugins You’ll Need And How To Install Them
What Are Plugins?
Plugins are little extras that do one specific function. There are hundreds of thousands of blogs, but every one has different needs. The basic program would be terribly bloated if it tried to do every single thing that every single person wants for their own blog. Think of WordPress as the base software and plugins as accessories. You can pick and choose from thousands, depending on your specific needs. The latest version of WordPress has made it extremely easy to find and install new plugins. Start by clicking on Plugins on the left side of your Dashboard, then Add New.
The first plugin I want you to find & install is All In One SEO. This will help the search engines find you, index your pages and be ready to offer your website in their results when someone searches for one of your keywords. We’ll talk more about Search Engine Optimization later, but for now, let’s find the plugin and install it. When you click Add New, it opens a new window with, among other things, a search box. In that search box, type “All In One SEO” and click Search Plugins.
When the results come up, it should be the first one on the list. If it isn’t scroll down till you find the right one and click Install Now. A popup window will ask you if you are sure you want to install this plugin and you click OK.
On the next screen, click Activate Plugin. The plugin will be installed and you’ll end up back on the main Plugin page.
While we are here, let’s take care of some other plugin business before we move on. First, we want to activate Akismet to stop the spam before it ends up on our blog for the whole world to see. Click Activate under Akismet.
When it is activated, you’ll see a message telling you that you have to enter your Akismet API key for it to work. Click that link to go to page where you enter your API key.
If you don’t have one yet, Click the Get your key link to sign up & get your API Key, otherwise, enter your API key in the blank, click the box to Automatically discard old spam comments, and click Update Options.
From here, you’ll have to click Plugins to get back to the main plugin page. The next thing I want you to do is to delete Hello Dolly. It serves no real purpose and I don’t like to have a bunch of unused plugins hanging around taking up space. To get rid of it, click the word Delete underneath it.
The next screen will ask you if you are sure you want to delete these files and you’ll click Yes, Delete these files.
After your files are deleted, you’ll be returned to the main Plugin screen again. Once you’ve reached this stage, you should be able to find the plugin you want and install it. The options for each individual plugin vary, but the installation procedure is pretty much standard. Occasionally, you may find a plugin that you’ll need to download from a website to your desktop, then upload into WordPress. You do this by going to the Add New screen and clicking Upload.
I have a standard list of plugins that I always install. There are others that I use occasionally for specific purposes, but this is a list of the ones I put on every blog I set up.
All In One SEO Pack
Akismet
Google Analytics For WordPress
Google XML Sitemap
Contact Form 7
Really Simple Captcha
Easy Privacy Policy
WP-DB-Backup
Advertising Manager
Simple Tags
Anytime you find yourself thinking “I wish I could do _______ on my website, check to see if there’s a plugin already available – chances are, you are not the first person to think that. Go to http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/ and look around to see what’s available.
Now you understand how to find and install plugins. We’ll put some of them to good use in our next session. We’ll use the plugins we just installed to create a Privacy Policy, plus Contact and About pages.
If you’ve already set up a website, but have questions, send me an email or leave a comment – I’ll be happy to help.
Talk to you soon,
goldie
The rest of the series:
1 – Announcing Jewelers Website Assistant
2 – Pointing Your New Domain To Your Hosting Account
3 – Two Methods To Install WordPress
4 – How To Select And Install A Theme
6 – Setting Up Static Contact, Privacy, and About Pages