If you’re a new entrepreneur, this plugins guide is going to save you a lot of pain.
“Selecting the best plugins for a website is complex & your selections affect costs & performance,” Troy Miller.
See SBMarketer’s High-Performance Marketing Websites system full breakdown here.
My WordPress Plugins Guide involved expert suggestions, e.g. Kevin Geary, Paul Charlton, Jakson Bate, Online Media Masters, WPBeginner, & Wordpress.org.
Don’t go it alone. It will take a lot of time sifting through the complexity of plugins & features that crossover to get a final list.
Or you can save time & follow my 10 Bare-Essentials below mixing free & personal plans.
Later on consider if personal, business, or lifetime (LTP) subscriptions are best?
A few offer one-time-payments (OTP), most are annual payments, & some renew with price rises.
“My approach was to follow experts, & use free or personal plans to trial before upgrading.”
With free plugins & personal plans you usually get one site activation, plus usage on staging sites.
Occasionally you may need to deactivate or reactivate a plugin if any issues with staging.
Tip: not all paid plugins need renewing unless you want support or plan to change initial set-ups.
Below are the plugins used on SBMarketer.com & recommended for high-performance.
Core Website Systems:
These 4 plugins in my WordPress Plugins Guide are critical for my site structure & styling, plus the WP dashboard structure for CPTs & custom fields.
Automatic.css
USD $79/yr + GST Freelancer Plan 3 Sites (Auto Renews) I Bare-Ess-01
Automatic.css (ACSS) is a Utility-First Styling framework created by Kevin Geary to speed-up workflow, & make it easier to style & maintain pages.
“You have one source for styling HTML elements, by attaching a styled utility class directly within Bricks builder.”
I use ACSS to style pages & enable consistent spacing via utility classes with predefined settings for padding, margin, column, gap & rows.
This is a core component of my “Fantastic Four” system & WordPress plugins guide for high-performance websites.
ACSS will assist you with predefined element styles for colours, shades, & spacing.
Tip: It’s very important to update this plugin only from a staging site (clone) or after backing-up to prevent styling breakages.
Frames
USD $69/yr + GST Freelancer Plan 3 sites (Auto Renews) I Bare-Ess-02
Frames is a collection of pre-built wireframes created by Kevin Geary to speed-up workflow for structuring web pages.
“Frames section & component imports assist my page structuring so I can build faster without coding.”
I select & import pre-built (unstyled) wireframes into Bricks builder, to customise pages, posts & CPT structures.
It provides maximum efficiency & it’s powered by Automatic.css for perfect code consistency & responsiveness.
This is a core component of my “Fantastic Four” system & WordPress plugins guide for high-performance websites.
Ask about SBM’s instructions on this if you’re a Website Launch Kit customer.
Tip: Connect Bricks to Frames, open a page in Bricks, then import the sections you want from Frames library, e.g. Hero Section Alpha.
Advanced Custom Fields
Free I Bare-Ess-03
Advanced Custom Fields is an alternative to Meta Box. Both plugins offer similar functions, adding custom fields, CPTs, & taxonomies.
“ACF has an intuitive visual interface making it easier for beginners to create custom fields.”
I use ACF in my Services CPTs, so the first screen-view is locked from Bricks & edited from WP dashboard (safeguard method).
ACF adds custom fields into WP dashboard that feed a defined content section. I use 3 fields in my Services CPT, e.g. lede text, button text, & link.
My Services CPTs are made from a partially dynamic custom Brick’s template, ACF in the first section, Bricks editable content in the body.
This is a core component of my “Fantastic Four” system & WordPress plugins guide for high-performance websites.
Tip: Start on free version & trial it, before going pro USD $49/yr if you prefer it over MB. Download original ACF from WP Engine, not WP directory.
MB Custom Post Types & Tax.
Free I Bare-Ess-04
MB CPT&CT is an extension from Meta Box & alternative to ACF. Both plugins offer custom fields, CPTs, & taxonomies.
“CPTs provide better content structuring & improved SEO from custom taxonomies.”
I use MB for creating my CPTs for Services, Comments, FAQ, Reviews, Legals, & Projects.
The CPTs display in the WP dashboard menu, I assign icons & adjust settings with this plugin.
As you grow you might create custom taxonomies for “Service Types” or “Project Types” to classify them for better SEO & UX.
This is a core component of my “Fantastic Four” system & WordPress plugins guide for high-performance websites.
Tip: Start with the free version & trial it, before upgrading to Meta Box AIO (all-in-one) USD $49/yr, if you prefer it over ACF.
Auxiliary Website Systems:
These 4 plugins assist site performance via image optimisation, custom code snippets, & email authentication, & enable web form emails.
Short Pixel Image Opt.
AUD $15.99 OTP 10K Credits I Bare-Ess-05
ShortPixel compresses & optimises images for better page loading performance.
“ShortPixel delivers optimised next-gen (WebP) images & adjusts image sizes for all devices.”
Short Pixel resizes, compresses, & converts my website images & thumbnails, with the average optimisation being 47% less.
I no longer have to precisely size images in Photoshop, before uploading them, but I still check image sizes & reduce large sizes.
I use 1920x1080px for my hero featured images, & 1080×1080 for my body images. Short Pixel will do the rest automatically, resizing variations & compressing file sizes.
Tip: Start with a one-time-payment plan for 10K credits (lasted 2+ yrs), then upgrade to 30K credits (AUD $19.99) when you reach the limit.
WPCode Pro
USD $49/yr + GST Basic Plan (Auto Renews) 1 Site*
WPCode supports custom PHP, JS, CSS, HTML, Text, & other code snippets.
“WPCode makes it easy for non-techies to add custom code snippets from their UI & library.”
I use WPCode to add GTM (enabling GA4) to my site header & body, disable WP comments, & add duplicate page/post in WP admin.
It manages a PHP script to disable Rank Math XML Sitemap cache which prevented real time updates.
However, it’s optional for beginners, as functions like GTM can be added using Perfmatters or done manually with Bricks builder.
Comments can be disabled in WP admin or Perfmatters & conversion pixels for Google/Social ads (advanced only) can be done via GTM.
Start with the basic plan if you want to add similar scripts & access their code library. Or leave it & use the other methods mentioned.
Tip: *Beware price on renewal is USD $99/yr, but you can cancel prior to find a coupon.
WS Form Pro
USD $59/yr + GST Personal Plan (Auto Renews) 1 Site
WS Form provides many templates & fields to enhance your web forms.
“WSForm is an easy way to use advanced web forms with a friendly UI that’s intuitive for beginners without coding.”
I use this for my contact form, newsletter subscriptions & blog comments.
One of it’s key functions is to confirm newsletter opt-in permission via checkbox.
WS Form also powers my admin & confirmation emails post form submission.
The Freelancer plan (USD $149) for advanced users, provides integrations with Google Drive, Zapier, Campaign Monitor & ConvertKit.
New entrepreneurs might pass it & start with the standard forms in Bricks builder if budget is tight.
Tip: Always publish WS Form changes after you save them in a two-step process, as saving will not publish changes.
Postmark SMTP
Free I Bare-Ess-06
Free up to 100 emails/mth 5 Servers, high deliverability usually under 10 secs.
Postmark Simple Mail Transfer Protocol is a verification standard for sending web email.
“Postmark overrides WP’s native mailing system (wp_mail) so web-form emails are routed via their servers & sent from a verified address.”
Postmark is owned by Active Campaign, & is serious about reputation for ensuring WP emails get delivered to inboxes.
When you start, you’re vetted to ensure you have legitimate email intentions, & you can create servers for transactional & promotional emails.
My web emails are sent from admin@sbmarketer.com & they are stamped & signed mailed by pm.mtasv.net which signals trust to ISPs.
These include my admin & confirmation emails for eNews sign-ups, Blog Comments, & Contact Us.
They kindly track & log sends, opens, & links for 45 days or you can pay for longer.
My promo emails are also verified by Mailgun, who is the SMTP provider aligned with MBS.
Tip: Once you reach 100 emails /mth, upgrade to their Basic plan USD $15/mth for 10K emails.
SEO & Loading Speed:
These 4 plugins are critical for site indexing, on-page SEO, preloading cache, lazy loading images & delaying scrips for page-speed performance.
Rank Math SEO
Free I Bare-Ess-07
Rank Math SEO provides powerful built-in suggestions to improve your website SEO.
You need the free plugin installed if using free or pro, as the pro version was made to work together.
“The free plugin is a powerful force comparable to other paid SEO plugins & a great starting point if your budget is limited.”
Free features a friendly UI with XML Sitemaps, Focus Keyword, dynamic Titles & Descriptions, Schema Markup, Image SEO, Local SEO & more.
Tip: This is a great option for new entrepreneurs to get SEO basics right. Then later when you have built more content upgrade to the pro-version.
Rank Math SEO Pro
USD $69/yr + GST Pro Plan (Auto Renews) Unli Personal Sites*
Rank Math SEO Pro supercharges my SEO performance thanks to their key features.
“One of the most complete SEO plugins available, that’s optimised for Semantic Markup, Local SEO & getting indexed.”
I use this for XML Sitemaps, Instant Indexing, dynamic Titles & Descriptions, Schema Markup, Image & Local SEO, Keyword Tracking & TC.
RM’s Focus Keyword feature enhances your results in the SERPs, with guided optimisations & monitoring, e.g. FK in URL, title & description, content density, sub-headings & image alt text.
Best practice SEO is to aim between 1-2% target keyword density in your page structure & content.
A key difference to the free plugin is multiple Focus Keywords & multi-location Local SEO options are available for advanced sites.
It comes with an AI content trial, that’s USD $53/yr after a 2-week trial. I cancelled it as I have an AI subscription with MBS, & use CoPilot, ChatGPT.
Tips: *Beware price on renewal is USD $95/yr, but you can cancel prior to find a coupon. AI trial auto charges after 2-weeks if not cancelled.
WP Rocket
USD $59/yr + GST Single Plan (Auto Renews) 1 Site I or Free with Rocket.net hosting.
WP Rocket speeds up my page loading by caching pages, lazy loading images & minifying scripts.
“An all-in-one caching & performance plugin to achieve better Google PageSpeed Results.”
WP Rocket is an alternative to Perfmatters. Both plugins improve page speed & cross over in lazy loading images, Java script & CSS optimisation.
I use this with all caching features activated as it was provided by Rocket.net where I am hosted.
I’m very happy with my page speed results partly thanks to this plugin & Rocket.net fast hosting.
It preloads cache & links, lazy loads images, minifies & removes unused CSS.
It minifies & delays Java script, deletes post revisions, & cleans my transients & database.
Tip: Get this plugin free with managed hosting on Rocket.net. If using WPR & Perfmatters, make sure the features activated on one, are deactivated on the other.
Perfmatters
USD $29.95/yr + GST Personal Plan (Auto Renews) 1 Site I Bare-Ess-08
Perfmatters is a trusted performance plugin that speeds-up websites via caching & script optimisation.
“Perfmatters was created by web performance geeks to speed up WP websites.”
This is an alternative to WP Rocket & a valuable source of information with many articles on website performance. See their Website Performance Checklist.
Both plugins improve page speed & cross over in lazy loading images, Java script & CSS optimisation.
I use this for general clean-up, e.g. to disable emojis & dashicons, & remove WP version, RSS feed, REST API, & filter global styles.
If you’re not using WP Rocket, this is a popular choice for image, script, & CSS optimisation.
Tip: Get Perfmatters to improve Google PageSpeed CWVs, if not using WP Rocket & hosting with Rocket.net.
Website Aesthetics (Admin)
My WordPress Plugins guide includes 2 plugins that improve the dashboard, with folders & columns for better organisation.
Happy Files Pro
USD $59.00 + GST (OTP) Unli Sites I Bare-Ess-09
Happy Files Pro keeps my media files & images organised with folders & is great value.
“Happy Files improves my workflow & media library with folders & sub-folders.”
You can create media folders for pages, posts, CPTs, & WooCom products.
It also enables dynamic galleries on a web page.
I use this to organise my media & images, e.g. folders for fonts, icons, logos, page images, etc.
As you grow & publish more, this plugin makes staying organised possible.
There is only pro version for one-time-payment (OTP) with unlimited folders & sites, lifetime updates & support.
Tip: If you like organised media files in folders or want a dynamic image gallery get this.
Admin Columns
Free I Bare-Ess-10
Admin Columns improves WP’s dashboard with custom headings & columns.
I added a Feature Image column in my Posts dashboard with this, as it’s not in core settings.
If you like seeing blog Feature image thumbnails in the post summary, get this.
“Admin Cols organises WP dashboards by adding columns for pages, posts & CPTs.”
My Post dashboard headings are – Feature Image, Title, Author, Categories, Tags, Date & SEO Details.
Feature Image is from Admin Columns, & SEO Details is from Rank Math plugin.
When you have built substantial content (50-100p) consider going pro (USD $79/yr 1 Site) for reordering, sorting & filtering content.
Tip: If you’re interested in improving your admin dashboard to connect images with blogs, get this.
Host Drop-ins
My host Rocket.net provides two caching drop-ins along with Cloudflare Enterprise to supercharge performance.
It’s important to understand caching occurs in different layers & levels for high-performance sites.
From the Top Level Global Edge (Cloudflare Enterprise CDN) full-page cache is provided.
Then Server Level page cache (advanced-cache.php) is provided, & object cache (Redis object-cache.php) is provided for the database.
Plus there’s a WordPress Level → Cloudflare bridge (CDN cache) that controls & purges cache.
These performance enhancements are handed by the engineers at Rocket.net.
WordPress Plugins Guide
I hope this WordPress Plugins Guide teaches you the base requirements for a high-performance website, so you can choose your plugins quickly.
A new WordPress installation is like having the rolling chassis of a car with a powerful engine, but without any accessories, features, or paintwork.
These 14 plugins provide the structure, features & styling, so that you as an admin & your visitors can have a better user experience.
You can save time & money by starting with the 10 Bare-Essential plugins in my list that combine free & paid plugins.
Then as you grow, consider the extra 4 plugins I use & upgrading your key plugins to pro versions for more features.
Before purchasing plugins look around for sales coupons, e.g. Seasonal, or Black Friday sales (last week Nov) & Intro offers to save 30-50%.
If you paid an annual subscription you can always cancel a renewal (Paypal one-click) & keep using that plugin version & the features (usually).
Then if you want to make site changes or update the plugin for new features, subscribe again.
What are your thoughts on this WordPress Plugins Guide for Internet Businesses?
Let me know your favourite plugin & why in the comments below.
