A while ago, we talked about unknown WordPress plugins that developers should use when setting up a new WordPress website. Aside from the ones I mentioned, there are, of course, way more great and essential WordPress plugins out there.
Because the first WordPress post received some great response, we thought about a follow-up post on the best WordPress development plugins for developers & designers.
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Unknown WordPress plugins (Part 1)
If you haven’t read our first blog post on WordPress, go check it out. I might refer to a couple of WordPress plugins and extensions mentioned in the first post. If you’re familiar with the first post, go read on.
WordPress plugins for developers
So, let’s get into it. WordPress plugins are essential for every new website. They make our websites better, faster and more secure. They also help us improve our workflows.
So here they are.
1. Usersnap
While working on WordPress websites you probably get a lot of feedback from your clients, colleagues or friends. With the Usersnap WordPress widget, you have found the perfect place for every single piece of feedback. Whether it’s about discovered bugs (hopefully not 😉 ), change requests or simply new ideas or general feedback.
By adding the Usersnap widget to your site, a little feedback widget is displayed on your website, enabling visitors – or if wished – clients and certain colleagues to provide feedback.
2. WP Updates Notifier
Security is a big concern for many, especially larger, companies. And when it comes to security, WordPress updates are a great way to keep your environment safe and secure.
When managing multiple WordPress projects and websites, it might be hard to keep track of the latest WordPress updates. With the WP Updates Notifier plugin, you receive emails on important WordPress updates. And the best thing? Your customers can also be notified via email that their website needs to be updated.
Download WP Updates Notifier!
3. Advanced Custom Fields
WordPress was originally a blogging system for people. Since then, it has evolved into a complex content management system being used in a lot different use cases. These use cases range from online shops, corporate websites to personal websites.
WordPress plugins like Advanced Custom Fields let you customize your WordPress website with powerful fields and forms.
Or as Bill Kracke puts it:
“It lets me build custom interfaces for my end users quickly and easily, making the task of keeping content up to date much less daunting for my end users.”
Download Advanced Custom Fields plugin!
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4. Duplicate Post
This is a useful plugin for anyone who’s dealing with big WordPress websites. The plugin lets you duplicate any post or page. This comes in handy if you’re using custom themes, settings or layout options on certain pages.
Craig Hobson from LaunchPress states:
I use it for adding WooCommerce products once the first one has been set up with all the settings I want configured. It’s like a big copy & paste for anything in WordPress.
Download Duplicate Post plugin!
5. WP Stagecoach
Some projects require a staging system for the website and you might wonder if there’s an efficient and fast solution for that. Just recently, I stumbled upon the service of WP Stagecoach.
Basically, it’s a perfect solution for anyone who needs a reliable staging system. Copy changes from the staging site can easily be copied back to the live system.
However, the plugin requires a monthly subscription starting at $4 per month.
Get WP Stagecoach!
6. UpdraftPlus Backup and Restoration
I already mentioned BackWPup as a great WordPress plugin for backups in the first blog post. With the backup service of UpdraftPlus, you can store backups into the cloud (AWS, Dropbox, GoogleDrive, and many more).
It also lets you quickly restore file and database backups.
Download UpdraftPlus Backup plugin!
7. Imsanity
Tired of huge images on your WordPress website? Tired of telling your content editors and contributors to resize their images?
There is a solution in the form of a WordPress plugin for that. And it’s called Imsanity. If a contributor uploads an image that is larger than the configured image, this WordPress plugin will automatically scale it down to the configured size and replace the original image.
Download Imsanity!
8. Shortcodes Ultimate
When creating your own WordPress theme, you might be looking for ways to optimize your work. With the Shortcodes Ultimate WordPress plugin, you can make use of shortcodes. By making use of shortcodes, enhancing your themes is easy.
Check out this demo of this WordPress plugin:
Download Shortcodes Ultimate!
9. Catch IDs
Catch IDs is a simple and lightweight WordPress plugin for anyone who needs to capture the ID of any page, post, media, link, category or user. After installing Catch IDs, it displays the ID of each element in its own column. Thanks for the recommendation Keith!
Download Catch IDs WordPress plugin!
10.WordFence Security
The security of your WordPress website should and must be one of your biggest concerns. With security plugins for WordPress, like the one from WordFence, you can be sure that your websites run stable & secure. Just like you would choose the best managed WordPress hosting for your website security, secure plugins are also important to focus on.
With its blocking and login features, you can prevent your sites from unauthorized access.
Get Wordfence Security!
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11. Aesop Story Engine
If you’re planning to make your own WordPress theme, I recommend that you check out the Aesop Story Engine WordPress plugin. At the core, it provides developers with storytelling components which can be used in their very own WordPress theme.
Download Aesop Story Engine for WordPress!
12. Optin Forms
Recommended by Daniel from Pure Web Services, I gave Optin Forms a test drive. Optin Forms is a powerful WordPress plugin for creating different form designs. By setting up the WordPress plugin of Optin Forms, you will be able to present custom forms (such as exit intents) to your website visitors. Optin Forms also works with various email providers (such as Mailchimp, AWeber and more).
Download Optin Forms!
13. All-in-One WP Migration
This WordPress plugin allows you to export all your data (media files, plugins, themes, database) from your WordPress website. According to the All-in-One WP plugin, it works on all hosting providers.
Get the All-in-One WP Migration plugin!
14. WP Super Cache
In my first blog post on great WordPress plugins, I mentioned W3 Total Cache as a great caching plugin for WordPress websites. Since then, a lot people have told me that they are using WP Super Cache as their main caching plugin for WordPress.
With WP Super Cache, static html files are generated. These files will be served to your website visitors instead of processing the comparatively heavier WordPress php scripts.
Download WP Super Cache!
15. Block Referrer Spam
If you are experiencing weird spam traffic on your WordPress website, this plugin can be a big time saver for you. With the Block Referrer Spam plugin, you can block referral spam on your site. Instead of creating custom filters inside your Google Analytics account, you can simply block that traffic with this WordPress plugin.
Download Block Referrer Spam plugin for WordPress!
Wrapping it up.
With this collection of great WordPress plugins, we’ve already shown you more than 30 plugins. Of course, there’s no need to use of all of them. Just give those which could be useful for your very own WordPress website a try.
Any great WordPress plugin for developing your own WordPress website missing? Let us know in the comments!
This article was brought to you by Usersnap – a visual bug tracking tool for every web project.
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