If you have comments open on your website,
Posted: Tue Dec 24, 2024 6:41 am
If you have comments open on your website, you’ll inevitably receive spam comments. The good news is, you don’t need to manually remove these. A good anti-spam plugin can automatically catch spam before it ever appears on your site.
The best-known WordPress anti-spam plugin is Akismet. It’s priced at “pay what you can” for personal sites and blogs (and you can choose to pay nothing), though if you want more features and support, you’ll need to select a pricing plan.
2. Contact Form Plugin (WPForms)
While you don’t have to include a contact form on your website, it’s often to have this as well as (or instead of) your email address.
A contact form makes it really quick and easy for people to get in touch and it also gives you the option to collect useful information upfront, perhaps through a dropdown.
Their message comes to you by email, and you can reply to them as you would with any email.
WPForms is a great contact form plugin with a very user-friendly interface.
3. SSL Plugin (Really Simple SSL)
Websites without an SSL certificate (HTTPS) look less trustworthy to users, showing as “Not Secure” in browsers. They may also not rank so well in Google.
If you take online payments or need users to login, then it’s essential you have an SSL certificate. But even if you don’t, you should use SSL.
Some WordPress users run into issues getting their SSL certificate working argentina phone number resource . (Most web hosts provide a free SSL certificate.) The plugin Really Simple SSL will automatically make sure all your content runs over HTTPS—and it can even provide a free SSL certificate for you if you don’t already have one.
4. Image Compression (TinyPNG)
One big factor in making your website load fast is compressing your images. You can use online services to compress images before uploading them—but what if you already have a lot of uncompressed images on your website?
TinyPNG is a great solution. It compresses JPEGs, PNGs, and WebP images automatically when you upload them, plus it can optimize images that are already on your site.
Other WordPress Plugins to Consider
Some other plugins you might want to add are:
A caching plugin, such as W3 Total Cache, to speed up your website.
A plugin that makes it easy to add Google Analytics code to your site, such as WPCode
An ecommerce plugin if you want to run an online store—WooCommerce is the most popular
A plugin to help with your SEO: I recommend Yoast SEO, RankMath, or All in One SEO
A social media plugin such as Easy Social Sharing, to make it easier for readers to share your posts
Creating Your First WordPress Page
Once your site is looking good and you’ve installed some key plugins, it’s time to create your first page.
An About Me page is a great option to get started with. You can create one by going to Pages→Add New in your WordPress admin.
The best-known WordPress anti-spam plugin is Akismet. It’s priced at “pay what you can” for personal sites and blogs (and you can choose to pay nothing), though if you want more features and support, you’ll need to select a pricing plan.
2. Contact Form Plugin (WPForms)
While you don’t have to include a contact form on your website, it’s often to have this as well as (or instead of) your email address.
A contact form makes it really quick and easy for people to get in touch and it also gives you the option to collect useful information upfront, perhaps through a dropdown.
Their message comes to you by email, and you can reply to them as you would with any email.
WPForms is a great contact form plugin with a very user-friendly interface.
3. SSL Plugin (Really Simple SSL)
Websites without an SSL certificate (HTTPS) look less trustworthy to users, showing as “Not Secure” in browsers. They may also not rank so well in Google.
If you take online payments or need users to login, then it’s essential you have an SSL certificate. But even if you don’t, you should use SSL.
Some WordPress users run into issues getting their SSL certificate working argentina phone number resource . (Most web hosts provide a free SSL certificate.) The plugin Really Simple SSL will automatically make sure all your content runs over HTTPS—and it can even provide a free SSL certificate for you if you don’t already have one.
4. Image Compression (TinyPNG)
One big factor in making your website load fast is compressing your images. You can use online services to compress images before uploading them—but what if you already have a lot of uncompressed images on your website?
TinyPNG is a great solution. It compresses JPEGs, PNGs, and WebP images automatically when you upload them, plus it can optimize images that are already on your site.
Other WordPress Plugins to Consider
Some other plugins you might want to add are:
A caching plugin, such as W3 Total Cache, to speed up your website.
A plugin that makes it easy to add Google Analytics code to your site, such as WPCode
An ecommerce plugin if you want to run an online store—WooCommerce is the most popular
A plugin to help with your SEO: I recommend Yoast SEO, RankMath, or All in One SEO
A social media plugin such as Easy Social Sharing, to make it easier for readers to share your posts
Creating Your First WordPress Page
Once your site is looking good and you’ve installed some key plugins, it’s time to create your first page.
An About Me page is a great option to get started with. You can create one by going to Pages→Add New in your WordPress admin.