How to Install WordPress Plugins and 8 Free Plugins to Use

WordPress offers tens of thousands of free plugins, and installing a plugin is one of the most basic tasks anyone building a WordPress website needs to know. In this article, let's look at MONA Media look at how to install plugins for WordPress and the most widely used free basic plugins today.

How to install plugins on WordPress

Before deciding which plugins to use, you need to know how to install them. As with themes, there are two simple ways to install a WordPress plugin: install it directly from the plugin directory, or upload it if you already have the plugin file on your computer.

Method 1: Install a plugin from the WordPress plugin directory

For plugins available in the WordPress directory, just go to Plugins and choose Add New. Search for the plugin you want, then click Install Now to start the installation.

Method 2: Install a plugin from a .zip file on your computer

Many high-quality plugins are paid, or may have been given to you, and you need to download them to your computer as a .zip file. To install this kind of plugin, follow these steps:

Go to Plugins and choose Add New, then click Upload Plugin to upload the plugin from your computer. Next, select the .zip file on your computer.

Basic free plugins

Jetpack

Jetpack is a plugin developed by WordPress itself, with many useful features. The most commonly used ones include viewing visit statistics, seeing where your traffic comes from, and pageviews. Jetpack has a lot of features, and you can turn off any you don't need.

After installing Jetpack, the plugin needs to be connected to a WordPress.com account before it can be activated. If you don't have an account yet, you can register a new one, and the sign-up is simple.

See also: What modules does Jetpack have? How to install the Jetpack plugin

Akismet

When you run a website, you will certainly run into spam. Many people use automated tools to spam comments and sign-ups on other people's sites. Akismet is one of the most popular and effective free anti-spam plugins today.

When you install this plugin, you need to register for a KEY to activate it. It is fairly simple, but when registering, remember to drag the price slider down to $0 to use the plugin for free.

Contact Form 7

No website can do without a contact page. Contact Form 7 is a plugin for building contact forms, from the simplest to the most professional. Its biggest strength is how customizable it is.

You can easily create a contact form, and the plugin gives you a shortcode. You can insert this shortcode anywhere on your website. Usually it is best to create a separate contact page and add it to your site menu.

See more: How to send Contact Form 7 data to Google Sheets

Shortcode Ultimate

Just add a short shortcode to your post, and it automatically turns into a variety of effects. That is exactly what you can do with Shortcodes Ultimate.

This plugin is a library of shortcodes with many different features. You can use it to decorate your posts, increase conversion rates and improve your visual marketing.

With Shortcodes Ultimate you can choose from more than 50 different shortcodes. Examples include bold text, buttons call-to-action, notes, quotes, slider, locked content, icon lists and much more.

Yoast SEO

Developed by Yoast, Yoast SEO has been downloaded more than 1 million times. It is a powerful SEO plugin that delivers strong results. Its main functions are optimizing meta descriptions and titles, supporting social media, and generating XML sitemap… It also has many other smart features that help users work more efficiently.

See also: How to set up and use the Yoast SEO plugin

Advanced TinyMCE

Advanced TinyMCE adds back functions that are hidden in the WordPress editor but that you actually need. If you haven't installed this plugin, check it the next time you write a post. You will notice something is missing, for example there is no underline button and no font size option.

The Advanced TinyMCE plugin solves these problems effectively. It even adds more advanced features, such as creating tables, adding font and font size options, and extra choices when creating lists.

W3 Total Cache

If you can't yet afford a premium paid caching plugin to speed up page loading, W3 Total Cache is a good option to consider. It is free, but its quality is no worse than other premium paid plugins.

This plugin improves the user experience on your website by boosting site performance and reducing page load time through smart, useful features such as content delivery network integration.

W3 Total Cache has important features that make your website run more smoothly, whether on mobile or on a site that uses SSL security certificates.

Learn more ways to speed up your website:

• 10 ways to speed up your website quickly
• Speed up your website with a CDN

wpDiscuz

If you are tired of the default comment interface and want something fresher, wpDiscuz is a great idea. It is also one of the plugins used by many people.

wpDiscuz gives users more features than a basic comment box. For example, it adds interactions such as share and like buttons, custom fields for the information required to comment, loading more comments on scroll, anonymous comments and many more. It also has a modern, easy-to-read interface, and you can see a demo right below this post.

If you are new, you don't need anything too advanced. Focus on WordPress and get comfortable with the basic plugins. We hope this article has helped you learn how to install plugins for WordPress and the free plugins your website needs. Don't install too many plugins if you don't yet know what they are for. For each plugin, learn how to use it well before adding other advanced ones.

See more WordPress plugins:

• Effective WordPress security plugins
• Top 5 best WordPress backup plugins