We all love a fast and responsive site, wordpress makes that even simpler by providing this awesome plugins for free. These plugins will make your site go faster, improve your website response time, improve user engagement, improve server load, memory load and confer a surer better experience to your visitors.
1. Simple Optimizer
The wordpress Simple Optimizer Plugin does only one thing best; ensuring that your blog has an optimized and less-bloated database. It has easy to set options for you to delete those millions of spam comments, trackbacks and auto-pings, you can also select automatic options for handling revisions, auto-drafts and pings.
What else can you ask for? go ahead to the official wordpress plugin repository to grab a copy of simple optimizer plugin for improved speed and optimized database.
2. W3 Total Cache
Any WordPress site with good traffic will be a pain in the neck to shared servers or even VPS and Dedicated servers without a proper caching system in place. This is because of the several HTTP request and even that of cron job processing that comes with this many visits. Most host has put in place a better caching system while the others are yet to do something about it. W3 Total Cache WordPress Plugin comes handy when saving your server some juice and having a faster loading site is of any concern to you.
3. Better WP Minify
I can’t imagine a faster wp site without this plugin in place, it combines all your CSS files, minify JavaScript and CSS properly. With the improved features of the plugin coupled with how often it’s updated, I can’t see any reason for not using the Better WP Minify Plugin today.
Also see: Reduce image size quickly: 7 best free tools for image compression
4. CloudFlare
Cloudflare WordPress Plugin will make sure that your site is secured and %100 protected from spammers, hackers and malicious persons. It steadily protects against DDos attacks and the likes, it also challenges spammers by checking their individual I.P. addressees. This plugin connects you to the official cloudflare superb services, ensuring the best performance for your site, server and visitors.
5. WP Smush.it
WP Smush.it Plugin steadily reduces image file sizes and improve performance using the Smush.it API within your WordPress install. It handles whatever expert recommendation you will ever think of when it comes to image optimization, from striping useless meta info from jpeg to optimizing .png images. Wp Smuch.it plugin will save your site some face and your server some juice.
6. nrelate Related Content
Some related post functions that are coded into most wordpress themes will only display some random post from same category, other wordpress plugins that seems to handle this function do so at the detriment of your limited server resources. nrelate Related Post plugin does that for you in such a superb manner without messing with your C.P.U. and memory resources at all.
7. nrelate Most Popular
Apart from jetpack plugin and some less bloated themes functions, every other plugins in the official wordpress plugins repository seems to be so server hungry when it comes to handling popular post on blogs, this is wholly unrelated to the many MySQL request needed to have this function in place. nrelate Most Popular Plugin handles the popular post function properly without using your own server resources at all. Think about how many juice you will end up saving by using this awesome plugin.
Must Read: Why skip Installing this 7 most important wordpress Plugins?
My Thought and Conclusion
You can save your host some juice and help these machines go a little bit longer than their proposed lifespan. There is no how you are going to have a slow blog or site after implementing the full potential that comes with these awesome plugins. Grab my Bonus tips by installing the P3 (Plugin Performance Profiler) plugin that will help you detect those server hungry plugins that also do slow down your site at times.
No doubt these are 7 tips are necessary for every net user. I only use WordPress for my site.These plug in is not easy to use every one. I will also try to use it.
I use WordPress for my website and blog and have found it easy to use as a certified technophobe! My website designer set it up for me as this was beyond my capability, but I find these articles very useful in expanding my knowledge. I will never be as proficient as younger people but I do enjoy being able to add to what I do know and understand so thank you for explaining things in such a way so that I can easily understand.
Your commenters are also to be thanked for adding to the original post. I will book mark this site for easy reference.
Thanks for dropping by Shirey, I am so intrigued by your huge contribution. It’s great to hear that you still keep learning even at a great age. Thanks for bookmarking my blog too. Wish to see more of your feedback in future Mam.
Hey Obasi,
What a great list here and you’ve definitely got me interested.
Okay so I use WP Optimize myself and it does work beautifully. I finally came to understand that we need to keep our databases clean and this one definitely does the trick.
I don’t use a caching plugin which I’ve shared numrous times on my blog. I’ve used the top two that are highly recommended and even had Ashvini install them for me but neither of them played nice with and messed up my blog. For now though my current hosting service is telling me it’s not necessary so I guess I’ll deal with that issue when the time comes.
So you highly recomend Better WP MInify? Every time I do the tests on my site I do have a lot of javascript and CSS stuff come up that I have no idea how to rectify but people have tested the speed of my blog and are not finding it to be an issue. Would this still be something I should consider installing?
What’s the difference between CloudFlare and the plugin? I used their service when I was with my old hosting service and I had nothing but trouble with them. They eventually moved me up to another level of service and that wasn’t offered there but I wasn’t upset since I really couldn’t tell any difference at all.
I don’t use SmushIt anymore because I make sure to compress my images before I load them up. One less plugin to have.
I use a different related and popular posts plugin and I’m really happy with it so I think for the most part I’m doing a pretty good job with my blog. I also only have 14 plugins installed at the moment so less is best.
Thanks for this and look forward to your reply. Enjoy your weekend my friend.
~Adrienne
HI Mam Adrienne ,
It’s really awesome having you around here today. Talking about the caching plugin and the position of your host, I will likely assume that your host is right about that. Most wordpress specif host like wpengine and Synthesis has got that aspect of wordpress covered fully.
One of my tech buddy do assume there isn’t any need trying to fix problems where there isn’t any! But believe me, better WP minify isn’t gonna mess up your site, all it does is to combine, minify and clean up your javaScript and CSS files.
As we all know, almost %42 of wordpress plugins do come with their own CSS doc, which can actually affect our speed somehow. But on a great server or dedicated plans, you can barely see the differences except your are using tools like http://tools.pingdom.com/fpt/ and google page insight to test how these files are handled on each time a visitor comes to your site.
As we already know, google has taken page speed as an important factor for ranking websites, this is expected anyway, considering that most blogs do take more than 15secs to fully load.
Talking about cloudflare, it doesn’t do any magic at all, especially, if you are getting only real human visitors with good mind. It is intended for sites that are targeted by malicious persons, hackers, bad proxy and bots. You can just say that cloudflare works fine as a security check, CDN and caching solution for small sites or sites hosted on shared servers with limited resources. The plugin doesn’t really do much apart from helping you connect your blog I.P. address to their API so they can serve you really better without many false positives.
I do not use smush.it either, ‘cos I considered it great an option for photo bloggers that barely has time to optimize their images.
Thanks for the part you agreed with my previous analysis of having fewer plugins. Do have a splendid day Mam.
Honestly speaking,
i think is very cool ..Awesome!!! Keep Posting, Impressed by your tips…
Hello Obasi,
Seriously, this are some powerful plugins that every bloggers would find useful and hungry to download :).
In your Number one position, i am using Wp-optimizer and i must confess that it has functions more than the Simple optimizer. You should try that plugin out.
Well thanks for the 7 great plugin you shared with us today. have a blessed weekend ahead…
Thanks Babanature, I am glad you dropped by today.
I am happy to find out that you are already a user of a wordpress optimization plugin, even though it’s slightly different from mine.
I have tried out the wp-optimizer on another blog just after reading your comments, but I will still prefer simple optimizer plugin to it.
It’s awesome you love the list already.
Hey bro,
Great plugins. I use a majority of them
Both w3 total cache and Better WP Minify cannot cohabit. If you get these two on one blog, you will crash ;)
Another most recommended plugin is smushit. It’s great at losslessly optimizing your images.
Wow! I am so intrigued having you around today Muki, I used both in most of my clients site and they never did crash. All you need do is turn off the minification option that comes with w3 Total Cache if you prefer going with the one provided by Better WP minify plugin.
Smush.it plugin works great even though I am not personally using it at the moment, I still can recommend it any day.
This is good technical information for anyone running a server! Thanks for the insight!
Boy, oh boy, I wish I understood this. It’s totally Greek to me. A “plugin” is what? A “wp minfini” is what? A “Cloudfare” is what? And what is a “smushit? … and the list goes on. I guess there is nothing simple any more, is there?
Thanks for coming around today Tina, this terms are very much familiar to self hosted wordpress blog users, you are probably using other platform for blogging, hence, your not being familiar with this terms.
Great article – though a lot of this is beyond me. I’ve been thinking of migrating from google to wordpress actually so this might come in handy for down the track.
Thanks for your comments Dean, sure, this tips are gonna help after migrating from blogger to wordpress.
Nice list you got here buddy, I didn’t know nrelate don’t add up to server load. When I was to download the plugin it was a massive file and I am always skeptical. But after I downloaded it, I realized they were lot of images which made the plugin obviously large. The other plugins are top notch.
You really did a wonderful job buddy and I hope you enjoy the rest of the day :)
Thanks for coming around today bro, nRelate has really saved me a lot in recent times, I have helped most clients avoid suspension by ditching YARP for it. Their support is also one of the best out there
Hi Brother !
I’m using WP Smush it on my blog and it really works well . I think its one of the best WP plugin developed till date . I had used the Better WP Minify and cludfare service/plugin as well ..as i was not satisfied with the performance of my blog after installing these two plugins , i removed both of them . Thanks for sharing .
-Pramod
no need to use cloudflare plugin,you just need to change the name server name to cloud flare one.
Thanks for that valuable contribution George, you can also activate cloudflare easily from almost every control panel out there
Thanks Pramod for the compliments, I think it’s always right to share tips like this once in a while. The problems you had with those two plugins will not be unconnected with the fact that most themes gets broken with advance caching and minification when activated in those two.
Hi Obasi,
I have a WP Optimizer, guess this will do a great job as much as that #1 plugin.
I don’t have W3 Total Cache but that’s because it doesn’t work with CommentLuv plugin; Andy Bailey said that it’s better to have the WP Super Cache. You don’t really need the W3 Total Cache…it conflicts the two plugin.
I have WP Minify, guess this will do the same job as #3 plug.
I heard about the WP Smush.it is good but I want to minify my plugins. In fact if you can only have not more than 12, the better. For optimizing my photos, I actually resized all of my photos to the just about the size that fits my blog exactly.
So you only have 7 plugins? That’s great!!!!!
Angela
Wow! It’s great having you around today Angela, It’s really a great pleasure to me .
I was wowed when I visited your blog earlier today, your comments have got same quality as your blog. Just like yourself I am a top crusader for having less number of plugins in ones blog.
I am personally baffled by your comments on w3 total cache plugin, except for the latest comment luv premium release, I haven’t got any issue at all making my blog to work with both of them. In this case I think it’s more of a configuration issue.
Also on WP minify I would advice you ‘d rather switch to Better WP minify since the latter is more frequently updated as opposed to the former that rarely gets updated.
Also about your comment on smush.it plugin I will say that you are perfectly correct as I am not personally using it myself. Except for photography blog and the likes that deals with heavy photos, I don’t really see the need for it.
Thanks again for visiting Mam, do have a splendid day