Your website is your online home. It is an integral part to your business, and you must make sure that it is functioning properly at all times, so you do not miss out on any opportunities. No matter what type of site you run on the WordPress platform, install these plug-ins today to improve the overall performance of your website! I have been using the WordPress platform for close to 3 years, so I have tried out hundreds of plug-ins available for the WordPress system. All websites from simple blogs to websites that get millions of page-views per month can benefit from these 5 plug-ins.
1. W3 total cache
Hands down, the fastest and most complete performance plug-in to optimize your site. W3 Total Cache improves the user experience of your site by improving your server performance, caching every aspect of your site, reducing the download times and providing transparent content delivery network integration. Some of the most visited sites on the web, such as Mashable.com, use this plug-in to improve site performance.
2. BackUpWordPress
This plug-in automatically backs-up your sites’ database files and emails the file to you once a week. You never know when, if ever, your site will crash, but you always need to prepare for the worst and have a plan in place to get your site back online ASAP. A crashed website can set you back for weeks if you do not have the information backed-up. Some people forget to back-up their files on a regular basis, but this plug-in takes care of the work for you without you having to even think about it. You simply install the plug-in and enter an email address, and it backs-up and e-mails you the back-up file on a specified day once a week.
3. WP Tap Mobile Detector
With the growing number of people accessing websites from their smart-phones, you must make sure your site is compatible with this mobile format. Due to differences in screen-size, javascripts and other technical factors, many themes do not correctly display on mobile devices. This plug-in automatically formats your WordPress them for all mobile devices! This plug-in has a free version, but you can also upgrade to a premium version to customize your website for the mobile formatting on smart phones.
4. Akismet
If you currently do not have a spam filter installed on your site, then you are probably familiar with hundreds of random post comments appearing on your site. This plug-in automatically filters and protects your site from spam messages and comments. Akismet is one of the most popular plug-ins downloaded and installed on WordPress sites. Stop wasting time deleting and filtering spam comments from the real comments, so you can focus on your #1 goal: creating new content!
5. URL Cleaner
This simple WordPress plugin is used when generating article slug ( the official name for the link extension in the URL). It removes all characters other than letters a-z, numbers, and hyphen marks(-). The plugin runs as the last one in the whole url-generating process, so first all standard replacements of diacritics and accents are performed, and then, if still some strange characters are present they are cut out.
Sam Sawyer is a 24 year-old entrepreneur involved in a number of different ventures. His site SawyerSpeaks.com publishes interviews and articles for fresh, future, and experienced entrepreneurs. Follow him on Twitter @samHsawyer
