10 Essential WordPress Plugins for Beginners

WordPress is the most popular CMS. It is used by small to large businesses to develop simple to complex websites like e-commerce. It is simple to use and affordable since it is an open-source CMS. Before using this CMS, you must install WordPress Plugins for beginners to improve the website’s functionality.

Not all functionalities you want will be available in WordPress. There comes the role of WordPress plugins for beginners, which give the website all the functionalities you wish, like forms, social media icons, table of contents, and others. It has an extensive library of plugins to improve functionality. Be it a startup or a service provider, they can design rich websites using WordPress.

WordPress Plugins for Beginners

Here are the top 10 essential WordPress plugins for beginners

WPForms

Contact forms are one of the WordPress plugins for beginners you must have on the website to let visitors get in touch if they love the service or product. There is no built-in form functionality, so WPForms must have a plugin that beginners can use while designing the website.

Features

• Many pre-built contact forms are available to choose from.
• The form design is responsive and open without issues on all screen sizes.
• It supports CAPTCHA and comes with a visual drag-and-drop builder.
• You can create a login and registration form with its premium plan.

Pros

• The drag-and-drop interface makes it simple to add forms to the website.
• Use a block or a shortcode to add the form to the site.

Cons

• You will need to buy the premium version of the plugin to create forms other than basic ones.
• A few features and integrations are not available in the basic plan.

Pricing:

• Elite: $299.50/year
• Pro:$199.50/year
• Plus: $99.50/year
• Basic: $49.50/year

Link: https://wpforms.com/

Akismet

Akismet is another one of the WordPress plugins for beginners available by default, but you must enable it. It is an anti-spam tool millions of sites use to keep the comment section away from spam content.

Features

• Check all the comments in the comments section for spam content automatically.
• Comment status history is available for all comments.
• Display the total number of comments that the user is approving.
• Delete the worst spam without any human intervention.

Pros

• It is highly accurate and is trusted by many websites.
• Display URLs and the total number of approved comments by each user.

Cons

• It is accessible only for personal websites.
• You need to pay a reasonable amount to access the premium version.

Pricing:

• Personal
• Pro: INR 578.95
• Business: INR 2906.95
• Enterprise: Custom

Link: https://akismet.com/

Yoast SEO

Yoast SEO is one of the powerful WordPress plugins for beginners that will simplify the whole page optimization process so your website can rank better on search engines. It has many templates for meta descriptions and will analyze the content for keyword usage and readability.

Features

• Analyze different web pages and posts for different SEO practices.
• Regularly updates the site to match the changes made to the Google algorithm.
• Quickly generate XML sitemaps.
• Setting up and configuring SEO settings for the whole site is easy.

Pros

• Yoast offers complete control over critical areas of site SEO.
• Default settings will embed SEO practices on the site to rank it from day one.

Cons

• On-page SEO analysis will focus more on keywords than on the content.
• The free version lets you analyze the content for just one keyword.

Pricing: $99/year

Link: https://yoast.com/wordpress/plugins/seo/

Redirection

Redirection is one of the powerful WordPress plugins for beginners that allows you to create and manage redirects. Using this plugin, it is easy to set redirects to avoid 404 errors when you have changed the permalink, which redirects the user to the old permalink.

Features

• Automatically redirects the user to the old page when the link has changed.
• 404 error monitoring is possible to identify and fix the issues.
• Easy to import and export redirection using this one of the WordPress plugins for beginners.
• Conditional redirects are possible based on the set parameters.

Pros

• The plugin will create redirects when you change the permalink.
• Offer you conditional filters to redirect only specific user roles and logged-out users.

Cons

• We cannot restrict access to this plugin to users with specific roles.
• You can only access premium features in the premium version.

Pricing: N/A

Link: https://redirection.me/

Jetpack boost

Jetpack Boost is a free plugin that improves the website’s performance in a few clicks. It is one of the must-have WordPress plugins that will measure the site speed and give the site performance score.

Features

• It is one of the best plugins for WordPress, and it is free to perform speed analysis.
• CSS delivery optimization allows you to load the CSS you want.
• You can remove the non-essential Javascript after the page loads
• The lazy image loading option allows the images to load when needed.

Pros

• The plugin works well with WooCommerce plugins.
• It lets you speed up the website without having to write the code.

Cons

• It lacks some key features that other performance plugins hold.
• Documentation and support could have been a lot better.

Pricing:

• Security: INR 573.95/month
• Complete: INR 1395/month

Link: https://jetpack.com/boost/

WPCode

WPCode is one of the best WordPress plugins for beginners that allows you to insert code and can be installed on any website. It helps you to add code to the header and footer of the web pages.

Features

• It is easy to add code to the header and footer of the website.
• Turn each code snippet on and off with ease.
• It supports coding languages like PHP, CSS, HTML, and Javascript.
• Have a code library with standard functions to add essential features to the website.

Pros

• You do not have to edit the theme to add header and footer.
• Support conditional loading, thus allowing you to add code snippets only to the pages you want.

Cons

• Errors in PHP would make the website inaccessible.
• Users should be comfortable writing PHP to use this plugin.

Pricing:

• Elite: $299/year
• Pro: $199/year
• Plus: $99/year
• Basic: $49/year

Link: https://wpcode.com/

WooCommerce

WooCommerce is an open-source platform for creating e-commerce sites and is one of the best WordPress plugins for beginners. You can turn this site into a functional online store selling physical products, memberships, and digital files.

Features

• Offer to integrate the site with secure payment processing options.
• Flexible shipping and tax settings are available.
• Generate detailed sales reports and analytics
• Integrate with different extensions and themes.

Pros

• Let you set up the e-commerce site in a few minutes
• Open source and enables you to retain ownership of the store content.

Cons

• Not all WordPress themes work the best.
• Pricey to access premium features.

Pricing: Custom

Link: https://woocommerce.com/

OptinMonster

OptinMonster is a lead generation plugin used by WordPress sites to turn visitors into subscribers and customers. With this one of the WordPress plugins for beginners, you can create popup forms, notification bars, slide-in notifications, and countdown timers.

Features

• Come with different styles to create campaigns, popups, welcome gates, and slide-ins.
• Perform A/B testing to try out different content and see how it works.
• Display the popups for different groups of visitors.
• Integrate with the email marketing software to market your products or services.

Pros

• The drag-and-drop editor of the tool is intuitive.
• Let you show different popups to different customers to include personalized messages.

Cons

• The free version only supports 500 views per month.
• Cart abandonment and on-site targeting features are only available in premium subscriptions.

Pricing:

• Growth: $359.60/year
• Pro: $239.60/year
• Plus: $179.60/year
• Basic: $59.60/year

Link: https://optinmonster.com/

Jetpack Security

Jetpack security is one of the WordPress plugins for beginners that you can install on WordPress to increase website security and improve site performance. The security will protect the website from malicious logins by adding two-factor authentication and brute force protection.

Features

• It will automatically monitor the downtime and produce alerts.
• Give protection against the brute force attack.
• Come with two-factor authentication to strengthen the site security
• Automate the backup of the files and databases.

Pros

• It comes with a suite of tools that will improve site security.
• Any malware that tries to attack the website will be detected immediately with Jetpack security.

Cons

• Paid plan only allows you to back up and use advanced security features.
• It’s challenging to restore the site when it is offline.

Pricing:

• Security: INR 573.95/month
• Complete: INR 1395/month

Link: https://jetpack.com/features/security/

WP Autoterms

WP Auto-terms is a WordPress plugin that allows you to easily create legal agreements for the website, like terms of service, privacy policies, and use policies. With the premium version of one of the best WordPress plugins for WordPress beginners, you can create GDPR-compliant policies along with cookie consent notices.

Features

• The generator will generate the terms and conditions, cookies, and privacy policies.
• Custom pages for the policies can be created with ease.
• Users can be notified when you update the policies.
• You can also create a disclaimer for affiliate links.

Pros

• It is easy to generate legal documents for the site with just a few clicks.
• Come with a compliance toolkit to meet legal requirements.

Cons

• Cookie consent notices are available only for users with the premium version.
• You must pay to use the plugins if the servers are outside Europe.

Pricing:

• Up to 2 websites: $39 – one-time payment
• Up to 9 websites: $33
• Up to 19 websites: $24
• More than 20 websites: $19

Link: https://www.wpautoterms.com/

How do you Choose the Right Plugin?

There are thousands of WordPress plugins for beginners. It would help if you found the plugins based on the functionality you want to implement on your website. However, only one of the tips to keep in mind is choosing the right plugin.

1. Learn your needs

It would help if you had a clear goal for what you want to achieve on the website using the plugin. This enables you to find the right one that suits your requirements.

2. Do extensive research

You must read the reviews, check the plugin ratings, and test how the plugins work. Look for the WordPress plugins for beginners that are updated regularly and have good customer support.

3. Check Compatibility

Always choose the plugin that is compatible with the WordPress version you are using. The plugins will specify the WordPress versions with which they work.

4. Check Longevity

It is good to choose the WordPress plugins for beginners that have been in the market for a long time instead of new ones since they are reliable and won’t have many bugs.

Conclusion

WordPress plugins are essential to make the website highly functional and usable. These are considered secret weapons to improve the site performance and security and enhance the experience of users using the websites.

Whether you want to boost the SEO ranking of the site, engage the audience, or streamline the operations, everything can happen through plugins. It would help if you chose the plugins wisely and ensured they meet your website needs. In this article, we have listed the WordPress plugins for beginners widely used by beginners. Use them to transform the digital experience of your customers.

WordPress Plugins for Beginners – FAQs

Which is the most widely used plugin in WordPress?

Akismet is a widely used Plugin by millions of websites that have designed their sites with WordPress.

Which SEO plugin is the best?

A Yoast SEO plugin is the best, as it is used in many big sites developed with WordPress to get a good ranking. It includes everything to optimize the website for SEO.

Can I build a website for free on WordPress?

You can create a website for free on WordPress, but this is limited to only a few customization options. If you have to customize the site further, you must install the WordPress plugins for beginners, which will cost you a bit.

How to install plugins on WordPress?

You can install the essential plugins for WordPress from the admin dashboard page. You must navigate to the plugin you want on the dashboard and install and activate this.

Is WordPress safe and secure to use?

You need to follow the WordPress security practices to keep the site secure. It is recommended that the website be paid attention to since there is a high chance that it will be prone to cyber-attacks.