You might never need a plugin like this but if you do then this will save you a lot of time.

There are times when you need to reorganise your WordPress hosting file layout because you’ve either accidentally put your site in a subdirectory or you have created a new site off to the side somewhere and you are making it live. In both these cases you want to change the directory where your site lives.

The process of changing your site installation directory is well documented elsewhere and is fairly straight-forward. The only really tricky bit is updating the URLs embedded in your pages and posts. It usually shows up as broken links to media which still reference the original directory. That’s where this plugin can shine.

It really is as simple as activating the plugin, entering the original site URL, then entering the new site URL. The plugin quickly applies the appropriate updates and your site is up and running.

After making the change there is no need to keep this plugin installed so you can Deactivate and then Delete it.

Yoast is built around knowing about Search Engine Optimisation and this plugin distils that knowledge into an easy to use plugin. Once installed you have control over the SEO elements of each page and post you create making it easy to do the right thing right from the start.

Too much information to detail here so head on over the Yoast and read up on how you can use this fantastic plugin.

https://yoast.com/

There are times when you want to show a widget in a particular context such as only on the home page or only on the product page. This widget adds a widget content section to each widget configuration dialogue. Super easy to see and control where your widgets will display.

https://en-au.wordpress.org/plugins/widget-context/

WP Google Maps is useful if you need to show geographic information. It is easy to configure and allows multiple pins to be dropped on the map as well as the creation of polygons which could be used to show a business’s service area.

https://en-au.wordpress.org/plugins/wp-google-maps/

A cache plugin is just about mandatory for every site but you need to ensure that the plugin works well with your site structure, content and theme. Test the performance of your site over time using a variety of page load testing sites. Swapping your cache plugin for another is usually low risk although you’ll want to do it at a low usage time.

As a result of testing I found that this plugin sometimes outperforms W3 Total Cache which is the other cache plugin I normally include in every site build.

https://en-au.wordpress.org/plugins/wp-fastest-cache/

Your site performance can be tested at Pingdom tools, GTmetrics, and Google PageSpeed Insights

A cache will help your site load quicker, resulting in some Google goodness. Don’t leave performance on the table if you can get some for free.

Not all cache plugins work equally well and may provide different benefits depending on the structure, content, and theme of your site. When deciding on a cache plugin you’ll get better understanding if you make a number of comparisons between cache solutions using a performance reporting site such as Pingdom tools. Pingdom allows you to select the location of the test so pick a centre in a region close to your hosting so as to eliminate unnecessary network issues.

There are are performance analysis sites such as GTmetrics and Google PageSpeed Insights that you might also want to try out.

If your performance report identifies any other issues that aren’t related to caching, then you will gain even more performance if you investigate and resolve those as well.

https://en-au.wordpress.org/plugins/w3-total-cache/

This is now used on all my sites and the majority of my client sites. That’s not to say it’s the only game in town, rather, it suits the services I provide. I use it with Amazon S3 in a configuration described in here.

https://updraftplus.com/

https://wordpress.org/plugins/updraftplus/

I’m a bit late to the game with this one. With over a million active installations and constantly updated it is hard to ignore this one. Traffic is important to your site, and information about that traffic can help you understand and mange your site better. Providing better service to your viewers.

There really is way too much to cover here so check out all the information at the links below:

https://www.monsterinsights.com/

http://www.wpbeginner.com/wordpress-plugins/monsterinsights-google-analytics-plugin/

https://en-au.wordpress.org/plugins/google-analytics-for-wordpress/

Recently, a client needed to showcase a few products so I added these plugins to their site and was very happy with the results. FooGallery is a nice responsive layout that has enough configuration options to get the presentation you want without spending too much time turning every knob or pressing every switch.

FooBox Image Lightbox complements FooGallery with zero configuration. Just install and activate this plugin and you are on your way. This plugin also works with other WordPress galleries.

https://en-au.wordpress.org/plugins/foogallery/

https://en-au.wordpress.org/plugins/foobox-image-lightbox/

With over a 100,000 active installations this plugin is the one to have for ease of use and flexibility. Add the plugin in the widget area or drop a short code onto a page. You can set the Title, Facebook application ID, your Facebook page URL, along with other settings such as width and height.

There is a brief introductory video on the page linked below.

https://en-au.wordpress.org/plugins/facebook-pagelike-widget/