Check out these 10 free incredibly useful WordPress plugins that will take your site to the next level.
A WordPress theme serves as just a framework that you can design and use to publish content onto your website. For your site to be truly functional, there are a variety of plugins you might have to install. Check out these free incredibly useful WordPress plugins that will take your site to the next level.

1. WordPress SEO by Yoast

WordPress SEO by Yoast

WordPress SEO by Yoast is one plugin I cannot do without as an SEO specialist. If you want your site to be search engine friendly, then it needs to have the right keywords in your article title, the content, the images and the meta description. This plugin allows you to add all these with ease, and also analyses your SEO performance for each post/page on your website.

2. Digg Digg

Digg Digg

Great content needs to be shared. Digg Digg is a share bar plugin that you can add to the top or bottom of your posts/pages, or as a floating bar alongside your content. By default, it also shows the number of times it has been shared on each social media channel, and you can customize it for only the networks you want.

3. WooCommerce

WooCommerce

WooCommerce is a very handy plugin that easily transforms your WordPress website into an online store. There are built-in shortcodes and widgets to help you easily design your eCommerce store. This plugin is also integrated with popular payment gateways and shipping methods to ensure seamless service for customers.

4. iThemes Security

iThemes Security

iThemes Security was formerly called Better WP Security and it offers a number of ways to protect your WordPress site from external attacks. It changes the login URLs, renames the admin user ID, performs routine site scans, bans suspicious bots and strengthens server security.

5. Editorial Calendar

Editorial Calendar

This is one plugin I use almost on a daily basis. The editorial calendar help me plan all my blog content even months in advance. I can easily create quick drafts for each blog post and expand on it when I get the time. It is also very easy to reschedule blog posts using the drag and drop functionality.

6. BackWPup

BackWPup

This backup plugin can be used to schedule automatic backups of your WordPress site. The backups can be sent to your email, Dropbox or S3 services. This will prove to be very useful if your site is down or there is any loss of content.

7. Pinterest Pin It Button For Images

Pinterest Pin It Button For Images

I am a huge fan of Pinterest and many of my readers are too. This plugin allows readers to easily pin articles from my site by hovering over any of the images. It is also possible to hide the button from selected images if required.

8. Contact Form 7

Contact Form 7

Contact Form 7 is a plugin that allows you to easily customize and manage several contact forms on your website. I haven’t used it yet but it does come highly recommended.

9. NextGEN Gallery

NextGEN Gallery

This is an image gallery plugin that allows you to easily upload, manage and display image galleries on your site. It also has the provision to create slideshows of images that can be viewed on your website.

10. Scroll Triggered Boxes

Scroll Triggered Boxes

This is one plugin I’ve been planning to install but haven’t got around to it yet. It is an unobtrusive call to action box that is triggered when a visitor has scrolled down to a certain point on your webpage. It’s a great way to get conversions without annoying readers.

No doubt there are dozens of other good WordPress plugins available online. But do take time to research if the plugin is from a reputed source, and install it only if you really do need the functionality it provides.

Are any of these plugins active on your site? What more would you add to this list?

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