Plugins can be a great way to improve your website or make things easier.

There are over 55 thousand plugins available (and counting) to download and use on your website.

Tasks that would take tens or hundreds of hours to complete, can now be done by downloading and configuring a plugin. Not to mention they can save money! (Everyone likes to save money, right?)

You always need to be careful at what you are downloading though.

Plugins are not always coded very well. Especially if the plugin is free. You are using someone else code–which can also be a security risk!

The creators might not have any incentive to work on the plugins anymore, which can cause issues on your site.

A lot of plugins are not tested thoroughly either (some not at all).

Plugins can create more WordPress queries, that you don’t even know about–which can slow down your website. Nobody likes a slow loading site.

When looking to use a plugin, make sure you check the ratings, downloads, and how often they are updated.

Steps for choosing a plugin:

• Make sure you absolutely need the plugin. Having someone code (if possible) is usually the better (and safer) route
• Pick plugins from the WordPress plugin directory
• Check the support, especially if you are paying for the plugin
• Make sure the plugin is frequently updated
• More users, better choice (usually)

The more plugins your site has the more bloated it becomes. Again, Nobody likes a slow loading site.

You should make sure that there are no unnecessary plugins activated because these can potentially slow your site down and clutter your admin interface.

Here is a list of plugins we recommend:

• Contact Form 7
• Yoast
• Advanced Custom Fields
• WP-PageNavi
• Better Search
• W3 Total Cache
• TinyMCE Advanced

Remember, plugins can be a great way to save time and money, just do your research before adding one to your website.