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Top 10 Best WordPress Plugins

(In almost no particular order. Unless specifically noted, these plugins are FREE .)

10.BackupBuddy – When carrying out a site re-design we often have to build the new site in a sandbox and then transfer it to the live server .  Absolutely nothing is simpler to use for this purpose than BackBuddy.  The entire process generally takes less than 15 minutes from beginning to finish.

Price for Builder Method: $150 (incorporates cost-free revisions)

9.  Global Translator - As a website designer in Dallas, Texas , we often encounter the need to offer one-click translation into Spanish.  The Global Translator creates a simple widget with the choice of translation into any of 45 languages using Google Translate.  One of our clients was raised in Madrid, Spain and claims that the Spanish translation is about 95% accurate – and certainly functional for world-wide-web use.  Which’s sufficient for me. 

8. Google Analyticator – Log into the Bing consideration and position Google Analytics and then merely visit the Bing Analyticator options and connect the plugin to the account and “BOOM ” – Google Analytics is now set to track your WordPress traffic .  No coding.  No cut and paste.  Too simple , truly.

7. Google XML Sitemaps - Mechanically develop sitemaps using one click on for Yahoo, Yahoo, Bing and close friends.  Much more complicated developer type settings are accessible for those who care, but this plugin is a must-have for any WordPress site or blog .

6. All-in-One Calendar -Quickly the most beautifully designed event calendar available for WordPress designers, this plugin includes styling, upcoming events widget and a host of choices that make it the best solution for providing visitors with upcoming event info.

5. Statpress Visitors – This plugin basically serves no function other than making the client feel warm and fuzzy without having to take the time to check out the far superior data offered by Google Analytics.  Statpress Visitors shows the last 30 days of traffic separated by Visitors, Pageviews, RSS Feeds and Search Engine Spiders.  It will also show you the last 30 or so keywords and search engines that brought visitors to the website .  I wouldn’t rely upon the data to sell advertising, but for an overview it does provide a quick summary .

4. Social Media Widget – In real life becoming adopted is creepy, but online many of us want it.  The Social Media Widget makes it straightforward to include dozens of links with relevant icons to your WordPress blog .  It’s too straightforward to use to take into account every little thing else. 

3. Gravity Forms– Although Formidable Varieties is a bit much less costly, it doesn’t quite offer the performance of Gravity Forms.  Building forms is a simple point and click process and the capability to produce multiple notifications and multi-page forms makes Gravity Forms far and away the best solution .  By the way, yes, we’ve used Contact Form 7.  Since we train our clients how to make simple updates to their own websites , Contact Form 7 didn’t make the cut because of its complexity by comparison.

Price for Builder Method: $199 (incorporates free improvements for a year)

2.MapPress Easy Google Maps – I used to use Simple Google Maps merely due to the fact it was easy and fast to implement, but MapPress Easy Google Maps is even simpler to use and provides far more functionality including on-page, one-click instructions (instead of having to leave the site to go to a Google Map with directions).

1. SEO Ultimate – I found this astounding plugin when faced with updating the title and description tags for an 800 page internet site.  All in One SEO Pack was sadly lacking in capability when it came to updating numerous pages.  With SEO Ultimate, I could update all of the titles via a single page, all of the descriptions via a single page, etc.  And then I discovered that SEO Ultimate does about a million other powerful things ranging from a Nofollow Manager to a Rich Snippet Creator.  For the time-pressed or the lazy, SEO Ultimate makes on-page optimization a straightforward process.

Did I forget your favorite plugin?  I’d never claim to know them all.  Please feel free to share your favorite(s) by leaving a comment.  I always like adding to the tool kit .