“Selecting the right plugins for a website is no easy task, & your selections will have cost & performance implications.”
If you’re a new entrepreneur, this plugins guide is going to save you a lot of pain.
My WordPress Plugins Guide involved looking at radar sites, listening to expert opinions from Kevin Geary, Online Media Masters, WPBeginner, & reviewing Wordpress.org.
If you go it alone, it will take a bit of research & time to sift through the complexity of plugins & features that cross-over to get to a final list.
Or you can save time & follow my selections, starting with the 10 Bare-Essentials below.
You need to consider if personal, business, or lifetime subscriptions are best, if one-time-payments (OTP) or annual payments are required, & how much renewal prices rise.
“My approach was to follow experts, & use free or personal plans to see if I like a plugin before upgrading.”
With free plugins & personal plans you usually get one site activation, which means you may need to deactivate/reactivate a plugin occasionally on staging sites.
This collection of plugins is for a high-performance website (like SBMarketer).
Core Website Systems:
These four plugins in my WordPress Plugins Guide are critical for my site structuring & styling, along with the structuring of my WP dashboard for CPTs.
Automatic.css (Paid)
USD $79/yr + GST Freelancer Plan 3 Sites (Auto Renews)
Automatic.css (ACSS) is a Utility First Styling framework for WP that was created by Kevin Geary to speed-up workflow, & make it easier to style & maintain a website.
“You make one source of truth for styling HTML elements, by attaching styled utility classes – it’s easy to style & attach classes directly within Bricks builder.”
I use ACSS to style my website & 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.
Tip: ACSS will assist you with scalable & predefined element styles. It’s important to update this plugin only from a staging site (clone) or after backing up. Bare-Ess-01
Frames (Paid)
USD $69/yr + GST Freelancer Plan 3 sites (Auto Renews)
Frames is a collection of pre-built sections & components for WP that was created by Kevin Geary to speed-up workflows for wireframing & structuring web pages.
“Frames section imports expedite my page structuring so I can build websites in less time without having to code.”
I select & import pre-built (unstyled) sections & components into Bricks builder, to customise my page, post & CPT structures.
It’s focused on efficiency, ease of styling, & it’s powered by Automatic.css for perfect code consistency, responsiveness, & flexibility.
This is a core component of my “Fantastic Four” system & WordPress plugins guide for high-performance websites.
Tip: Connect Bricks builder to Frames, open a page in Bricks, then import the sections & components you want from Frame’s library, e.g. Hero Section Alpha. Bare-Ess-02
Advanced Custom Fields (Free)
Advanced Custom Fields is an alternative to Meta Box. Both plugins offer similar core functionality, adding custom fields, custom post types, & taxonomies.
“ACF has a more intuitive visual interface making it easier for beginners to create & manage custom fields without coding.”
I use ACF in my Services CPTs, so the first screen view is locked from Bricks builder & edited from the WP dashboard (safeguarding technique) in three custom fields.
It works by adding custom fields into the WP dashboard that link & feed a CPT section. I used three custom fields in my Services CPT top sections, e.g. lede text, button text, & link.
My Services CPTs are made from a partially dynamic custom Brick’s template, with three custom fields, while being editable in the body using Bricks.
This is a core component of my “Fantastic Four” system & WordPress plugins guide for high-performance websites.
Tip: Start on the free version & see if you like it before upgrading to pro USD $49/yr. It’s important to get original ACF from WP Engine, not from WP directory. Bare-Ess-03
MB Custom Post Types & Tax. (Free)
MB CPT&CT is a stand alone extension from Meta Box, the alternative to ACF. Both plugins offer similar functionality for custom fields, custom post types, & taxonomies.
“CPTs provide better content structuring, improved SEO from custom taxonomies, & enable template customisation.”
I use this for creating my CPTs for Services, Comments, FAQ, Reviews, Legals, & Projects. They display in the WP dashboard menu, & I assign icons & settings with this plugin.
As you expand you might create taxonomies for “Service Types” or “Project Types” to classify them for better user experience & SEO.
This is a core component of my “Fantastic Four” system & WordPress plugins guide for high-performance websites.
Tip: Start with the free version & see if you like it, before upgrading to Meta Box AIO (all-in-one) USD $49/yr, if you prefer Meta Box. Bare-Ess-04
Auxiliary Website Systems:
These four plugins assist site performance through image optimisation, custom coding, & email authentication, & enable visitors to direct message me from web forms.
Short Pixel Image Opt. (Paid)
AUD $15.99 OTP 10K Credits Unli Domains
ShortPixel compresses & optimises images for better page loading performance.
“ShortPixel delivers optimised next-gen (WebP) images, adjusts the image size & can serve images through their CDN if needed.”
This means you no longer have to precisely size images in Photoshop, before uploading them, but it’s still good practice to size images for desktops & reduce down large file sizes.
I use Short Pixel to optimise (resize, compress, & convert) my images & thumbnails in the media library, with my average optimisation being 47% less, & served in WebP format.
Tip: Start with a one-time-payment plan for 10K credits, then upgrade to 30K credits (AUD $19.99) when you reach the limit. Bare-Ess-05
WPCode Pro (Paid)
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 to WP websites 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, & access their code library.
Recently I used this plugin to add a PHP script to disable Rank Math XML Sitemap cache which was preventing real time updates to the sitemap.
This plugin is optional for beginners, as GTM & code can be added using Perfmatters, or done manually with Bricks by placing code into a global header & in page body sections.
Comments can be disabled in WP admin or Perfmatters, & WPCode’s conversion pixels for Google ads & social ads (not for beginners) can be done via GTM for free.
Start with the basic plan if you want to add similar scripts as I do & access their code snippet library. Or you can leave it & use the other methods mentioned.
Tip: *Beware price on renewal is USD $99/yr, but you can cancel prior renewal & find a coupon.
WS Form Pro (Paid)
USD $59/yr + GST Personal Plan (Auto Renews) 1 Site
WS Form provides 100+ templates & over 55 fields to enhance your web forms.
“WSForm is an easy way to make advanced web forms with a friendly interface that’s intuitive for beginners without coding.”
I use this for my contact form, blog newsletter subscription & comments, & importantly to confirm newsletter opt-ins via checkbox.
WS Form also powers my admin & confirmation emails post form submission.
The Freelancer plan ($149) provides integrations with Google Drive, Zapier & email platforms, e.g. Campaign Monitor & ConvertKit, for advanced level users.
New entrepreneurs can start with the standard forms in Bricks builder & allow more time to build forms.
Tip: Always publish WS Form changes after you save them in a two-step process, as saving will not publish changes.
Postmark SMTP (Free)
Free up to 100 emails/mth 5 Servers, high deliverability usually under 10 secs.
Postmark Simple Mail Transfer Protocol is a widely accepted standard for sending email from a website.
“Postmark overrides WP’s native mailing system (wp_mail) so your transactional emails are routed through their servers & sent from a verified sender address.”
Postmark is owned by Active Campaign, a trusted SMTP service provider who 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 (broadcast) emails.
My transactional emails are sent from admin@sbmarketer.com & they are stamped & signed mailed by pm.mtasv.net representing Postmark.
These include admin & confirmation emails for Newsletter sign-ups, Blog Comments, & Contact Us. They kindly track & log sends, opens, & links for 45 days.
My promo emails are 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. Bare-Ess-06
SEO & Loading Speed:
These four plugins are critical for site indexing, on-page SEO, structured data, preloading cache, lazy loading images & delaying scrips for SEO performance.
Rank Math SEO (Free)
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 on the free plugin’s foundation & coding.
“While the free plugin is not as loaded as the pro version, it’s a force comparable to other paid SEO plugins & a great starting point if your budget is limited.”
Free features a friendly interface with XML Sitemaps, dynamic SEO Titles & Descriptions, Schema Markup (structured data), 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. Bare-Ess-07
Rank Math SEO Pro (Paid)
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 comprehensive SEO plugins available, that’s optimised for Semantic structured data, local SEO & getting your content indexed.”
I use this for XML Sitemaps, Instant Indexing (pages & posts), dynamic SEO Titles & Descriptions, Schema Markup, Image & Local SEO, Keyword tracking & Twitter Card.
Rank Math’s SEO features will enhance your results in the SERPs, with 20+ guided page optimisations & monitoring of focus keyworks, e.g. in URL, SEO Title & Description, in content & density, in sub-headings & image alt text.
It comes with an AI content trial, that’s USD $53/yr after a 2-week trial period. I cancelled this as I have another AI subscription included with MBS, & I use CoPilot for free.
Tips: *Beware price on renewal is USD $95/yr, but you can cancel prior renewal & find a coupon. AI trial auto charges after 2-weeks so remember to cancel prior.
WP Rocket (Paid)
USD $59/yr + GST Single Plan (Auto Renews) 1 Site – or Free with Rocket.net hosting.
WP Rocket speeds up my website loading by page caching, lazy loading images & minifying scripts.
“An all-in-one caching & performance plugin to help me achieve better Google PageSpeed & CWVs.”
WP Rocket is an alternative to Perfmatters. Both plugins offer features to improve page speed, & cross over in areas like lazy loading images, Java script & CSS optimisation.
I use this with all caching features activated as it was provided as a bonus from Rocket.net where I am hosted, & I’m very happy with my page speed results.
It preloads cache & links, lazy loads images, minifies & removes unused CSS, minifies & delays Java script, deletes post revisions, & cleans my transients & database.
Tip: Get this plugin free with a managed hosting subscription to Rocket.net. If using this & Perfmatters, make sure the features activated on one, are deactivated on the other.
Perfmatters (Paid)
USD $29.95/yr + GST Personal Plan (Auto Renews) 1 Site
Perfmatters speeds up websites through caching pages & optimising scripts.
“Perfmatters was created by web performance geeks to speed up sites easily.”
This is an alternative to WP Rocket & a valuable source of information with over 100 articles on website performance & optimisation.
Both plugins offer features to improve page speed & cross over in areas like lazy loading images, Java script & CSS optimisation.
I use this for general clean-up, e.g. to disable emojis & dashicons, & to remove WP version metatag, RSS feed links, REST API link, & filter global styles.
This is a great choice for image, script, & CSS optimisation, if you’re not using WP Rocket.
Tip: Get Perfmatters to improve Google CWVs, if not using WP Rocket & hosting with Rocket.net, or you have 3 sites (USD $59.95/yr). Bare-Ess-08
Website Aesthetics (Admin)
My WordPress Plugins guide ends with two plugins that improve my WP dashboard admin, with folders & columns for better organisation.
Happy Files Pro (Paid)
USD $59.00 + GST (OTP) Unlimited Sites
Happy Files Pro helps me to organise my media files & images with folders.
“Happy Files optimises my media library with clearly named folders & sub-folders.”
In addition to organising media files, you can create folders for pages, posts, CPTs, WooCommerce products. The plugin also enables dynamic galleries on a web page.
I use this to categorise my media & images into organised folders, e.g. folders for fonts, icons, logos, page images, etc.
As you publish more, this plugin makes staying organised possible.
There is only the pro version for one-time-payment (OTP) with unlimited folders & sites, & lifetime updates & support.
Tip: If you’re interested in organising your media files in folders or displaying an image gallery get this plugin. Bare-Ess-09
Admin Columns (Free)
Admin Columns enables upgrades in WP’s dashboard with custom headings & columns.
I added the Feature Image column in my Posts dashboard with this, as it was not in default settings, & important to link blog hero images to the post summary.
“Admin Cols organises WP dashboards by adding columns for pages, posts & CPTs.”
My Post dashboard headings are – Featured Image, Title, Author, Categories, Tags, Date & SEO Details. Feature Image from Admin Columns, & SEO Details from Rank Math.
When you have built substantial content (50-100p) consider upgrading to pro (USD $79/yr 1 Site) for reordering, sorting, & filtering content.
Tip: If you’re interested in improving your admin dashboard, install the free plugin. Later when you have substantial content upgrade to pro. Bare-Ess-10
WordPress Plugins Guide
I hope this WordPress Plugins Guide teaches you the requirements for a high-performance website, so you can choose the Bare Essential plugins quickly.
When first starting out, 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 features & styling, so that you & your visitors can have a better user experience. Save time & start with 10 plugins in my Bare Essentials list.
Before purchasing WP plugins look around for Ad hoc (new release), Seasonal (Spring), Black Friday sales (last Fri Nov) & Intro offers that can save 30-50% off the cost.
What are your thoughts on this WordPress Plugins Guide for service-orientated Internet Businesses? Let me know in the comments below.
