Almost every beginner blogger quickly discovers that just having a beautiful website won’t cut it. In order to thrive, each blog requires some additional help – usually in a form of plugins. Therefore, after hearing numerous concerns on how to pick the right ones, we decided to write about the best WordPress plugins for a new blogger who wants to build a stunning, fully-functional and secure blog!

We chose WordPress because it’s definitely the most popular blogging platform known to date. All of the plugins we’ll mention can be easily found in your main WordPress Dashboard → Plugins → Add New.

Behold, as we reveal these great plugins that will boost your blog’s performance and potential:

1. Jetpack
2. WP Subscribe
3. Akismet
4. Yoast SEO
5. Wordfence Security

The Best WordPress Plugins for a Beginner Blogger (2018)

1. Jetpack – Design, Security, Marketing

The first plugin we’ll present to you is Jetpack. This well-known plugin comes in the basic, free version with several plans you could upgrade to if needed.

Actually, Jetpack offers a useful blend of features to improve your blog’s design, security, even certain marketing efforts. Take a look at some of the features it contains:

1. Image compression (large images will cause your site to perform slower, so resizing images often comes handy)
2. Post sharing buttons for main social media sites
3. Variety of themes
4. Analytical and SEO tools
5. Diverse payment solutions
6. Premium features: spam filters, backup, robust security services, and more.

Hence, we warmly recommend its reliability and easy-to-use functionality, even in the basic free plan. Most noteworthy, it’s a useful tool which can help:

• Make your blog more secure
• Track the traffic data
• Boost your marketing campaigns
• Enable more engagement with Jetpack contact forms

2. WP Subscribe – Email Subscription

The next plugin not as well-known as some other options (such as NinjaForms and similar), but we love its simplicity! Certainly, a plugin which is incredibly easy to use, while being completely free at the same time, is a winning option for any starting blogger.

Assumably, you’re aware how important email subscription is for your blog’s future. Email marketing is still one of the most powerful ways to interact with your audience.

WP Subscribe empowers your email marketing (consequently alleviating your marketing efforts) with these features:

1. Simple opt-in solutions
2. The plugin itself is small and won’t slow down your blog
3. Support of double opt-in procedure
4. Fully responsive
5. The only free email subscription plugin supporting Mailchimp, FeedBurner and Aweber.

3. Akismet – Spam Comment Protection

Spamming comments are not only a deeply annoying occurrence, but they could also hurt your blog’s reputation. Therefore, having a reliable anti-spam protection 24/7 is a must.

Akismet plugin is the only spam comment protection plugin we recommend. It offers a free solution for personal blogs and paid plans for business blogs. So, whether you’re running a blog as a hobby or for profit, you’ll enjoy the effectiveness of Akismet. It will automatically check each comment, filtering the ones that look like spam.

Don’t worry, every comment will have a status history. You can easily monitor which comments were labelled by Akismet and if needed, unspam the comment yourself.

4. Yoast SEO – Content and SEO

The superstar of WordPress plugins!

Yoast definitely deserves to be called one of the best WordPress plugins for a novice blogger. It provides a true all-in-one solution for SEO. Needless to say, SEO is a crucial aspect of blogging. Therefore, if your potential audience is not able to find you online, how will you provide them all the value and insight?

First of all, let’s cover some of the features offered by Yoast SEO:

1. Content analysis
2. Advanced XML sitemap
3. Google Search Console integration
4. Suggestions on keyword strength and density in your post
5. Premium: adding of multiple keywords, removing dead links, linking tips, etc.

In our honest opinion (and we tried plenty of options), Yoast covers every aspect of SEO and ensures your content is search engine ready. Furthermore, a free version even provides SEO roles – a delegating functionality enabling you to give your colleagues access to certain plugin sections.

As a new blogger, you can start with a free plan and enjoy the features most plugins do not even offer.

5. Wordfence – Security

Finally, we believe that security is of utmost importance. Whatever you might do to improve your blog, remember that all the effort could be in vain in the case of attack.

Enter Wordfence, a plugin that comes in free and paid plans, and secures your website in various ways. Furthermore, it has been the most popular firewall and security scanner for WordPress sites for a very long time. Another thing we love about it is how often it’s being updated to protect your blog in the best way.

The Wordfence team is proud of these features:

1. A powerful, regularly updated firewall
2. Various blocking features
3. Login security for your WordPress site
4. Thorough security scanning

Conclusion

Consider adding any of the mentioned plugins and your blogging will significantly benefit from it. Most of the best WordPress plugins for a beginner blogger striving for excellence are free to use. In most cases, paid plans are affordable and surely worth the investment.

Furthermore, in order to reach the blogger elite, you’ll need a powerful website, with an eye-catching domain and a reliable hosting solution. Wait no more and pick your starting plan today, your audience is waiting!