Essential WordPress Plugins
Byte of Texas 2015
Austin Food Blogger Alliance
Margaret Dornbusch
MadSweetWorld.com
Agenda
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About Me
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What are plugins?
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How to use plugins
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Essential plugins
madsweetworld.com
About Me
And a Disclaimer
About Me
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Started with hand-coding in 1990s
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Used free Greymatter
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Didn’t really know I was blogging
Database not required, output HTML
Couldn’t afford other blogging solutions
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WordPress in 2003 – free, barebones, no plugins
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WordPress in 2014 – Wow! Still free! Lots of plugins!
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Disclaimer
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I’m not an expert
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We are merely scratching the surface
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What are Plugins?
What are Plugins?
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Dependent component
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Adds features to an existing applications
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Enables customization
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Some plug-ins have plugins
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BuddyPress – Provides an entire ecosystem for groups communications
https://wordpress.org/plugins/buddypress/
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Plugin Example
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How to Use Plugins
How to Use Plugins
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Finding
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Installing
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Configuring
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Adding code (if necessary)
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Finding Plugins
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33,485 plugins available
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WordPress plugin search
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Star ratings in search results
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Popular or Favorites tabs
Google
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“best plugins for food bloggers”
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“best seo plugins”
Recommendations from other bloggers
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Austin Food Blogger Alliance
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Austin Bloggers Facebook page
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Austin WordPress meetup
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Installing Plugins
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Installing plugins is easy
1.
From the Plugins page, click Add New.
2.
Search for the plugin you want to add.
3.
Click Install Now.
4.
Click Activate Plugin (or activate later if you want).
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Configuring Plugins
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Follow any directions
34 Settings!
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Configuring Plugins (cont.)
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Some plugins require adding a bit of code to your template or
uploading a file to your website
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Some require adding short codes to your template
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Bits of code that represent longer sections of code
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Example: [donate] adds a Donate button
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Installation Demo
Essential Plugins
Absolutely Essential
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Comment Spam
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Sign up with Akismet (Automattic)
http://akismet.com/
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Activate the plugin
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Click Get your API key or enter your API key manually
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Absolutely Essential (cont.)
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Backup
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VaultPress (Automattic)
subscription backup service
Security
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Wordfence Security
free security scans
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Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
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Yoast WordPress SEO
(requires verification from Google Webmaster Tools)
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Google Analytics
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Google Analyticator
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Other analytics plug-ins
Share buttons (Pinterest/Facebook/Twitter, etc.)
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Simple Share Buttons
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Blogging
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Event Calendar
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Google
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Blog-only
Editorial Calendar
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Editorial Calendar 3.3 – Manage posts from a calendar view
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Food
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Recipes
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Easy printing
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Shopping lists
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Google Recipe Search format
(rich snippets)
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Example:
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EasyRecipe
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Food
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Nutrition
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Enter all data; doesn’t calculate it
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http://caloriecount.about.com/cc/recipe_analysis.php
No Follow for Sponsored Posts
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Example:
Ultimate Nofollow
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Administration
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Speed Enhancers
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Multifunction
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WP SuperCache (Automattic)
Generates static html files
JetPack (Automattic)
Importers and Cross-posters
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Import from other WP installations or other blogs
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Cross post to other blogs/social media
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Miscellaneous
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Contact Management
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Contact forms
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Email subscriptions
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Bulletin boards
Donation Form
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Miscellaneous (cont.)
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Ecommerce
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WooCommerce
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WP Customer Reviews
App Creators
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Wiziapp
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Mobiloud
Ebook Creators
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PressBooks
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Bookpress Client
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Tips
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(Recommended) Set up a test installation of WordPress to test plugins before you add them to your blog
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Backup your WordPress installation before you activate a plugin
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Keep WordPress and any plugins current
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Use plugins tested with the version of WordPress you are using
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Recovering from the White Screen of Death
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Tips (cont.)
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Deleting plugins
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
Deactivate first
How to find out the name of a plugin
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Online tool
http://www.wpthemedetector.com/
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View source code
 Search for the word “plugin”
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Examine <blogurl>/wp-content/plugins/ to view a list of
plugins
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References
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Austin Food Blogger Alliance
http://austinfoodbloggers.org/
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Austin Bloggers Facebook page
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Austin WordPress meetup
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http://wplifeguard.com/how-to-use-wordpress-shortcode/
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2012/05/01/wordpress-shortcodes-complete-guide/
Google Rich Snippets and Google Recipe View
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http://www.meetup.com/austinwordpress/
How to use shortcodes
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https://www.facebook.com/groups/austinbloggers/
http://www.google.com/insidesearch/features/recipes/
https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/173379?hl=en
Margaret Dornbusch

madsweetworld@gmail.com
madsweetworld.com
Questions?
http://madsweetworld.com/byteoftexas/plugins.pptx
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