There are just some plugins I can\u2019t seem to avoid. I\u2019m so closely tied to them that they have become part of my workflow.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m going to list them off here.<\/p>\n
But before I do, I just want to mention one of the biggest mistakes I\u2019ve made. And that is trying to use all free plugins. You get what you pay for.<\/p>\n
So nowadays I support the developers of a good plugin. But having said that, most of these plugins are free.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s get to it.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
(1) \u00a0Coming up a number #1 is Beaver Builder. <\/strong><\/p>\n I love this so much I just couldn\u2019t live without it. Yep, I used the free version for a while. It is great but the paid version is so much more awesome. You can check it out here.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n (2) Then there\u2019s Yoast SEO. <\/strong><\/p>\n Seriously, where would any of us be without it. I know there are competitors on the market but I always find myself using this one. Don\u2019t forget to setup it up properly.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n (3) PODS. <\/strong><\/p>\n Okay, so this one is a little harder to explain but pods lets you create custom post types. I use it to create my \u201coptin\u201d post types and \u201cdelivery\u201d post types. I then use yoast SEO to ensure I\u2019m not letting Google index my delivery posts and pods settings to hide from search.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n (4) Ultimate Beaver Addons.<\/strong><\/p>\n This is a paid addon for beaver builder which gives you options like additional layout bling and the ability to create popup optins. It also comes with templates too.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n (5) Ithemes Security.<\/strong><\/p>\n I admit I abandoned this plugin when I felt betrayed by Ithemes. But I\u2019m coming back around to it. It has some great features to protect your site like masking your sensitive parts.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n (6) Genesis Dambuster.<\/strong><\/p>\n If you are using Beaver Builder, and I am, then dambuster is a must. It allows you to have edge to edge effects on Genesis themes when building out your pages.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n (7) mPress hide from search.<\/strong><\/p>\n Did you know that WordPress places every single page in a searchable index. MPress Hide from Search prevents people from finding your page when it is searched for.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Although be aware that a 404 error might list all your pages anyway. Hence the reason I use pods and custom post types.<\/p>\n There are likely more but I use those ones above fairly religiously. I could have mentioned a caching plugin or slimstat. I often use these for speed and quick analytics. There\u2019s also imsanity for resizing large uploads automatically and easy image sizes for creating additional \u2026 sizes.<\/p>\n In fact, quite honestly, I can have up to 30 plugins on a site. But they all play nicely.<\/p>\n Did you feel like a plugin didn\u2019t make the cut here? Please let me know below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There are just some plugins I can\u2019t seem to avoid. I\u2019m so closely tied to them that they have become part of my workflow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12122,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[33,37,24],"callouts":[],"class_list":["post-3164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archived","tag-ideas","tag-resources","tag-tips"],"yoast_head":"\n