How to Make a WordPress Website
WordPress is a content management system (CMS) that is extremely popular among bloggers and website owners because of its ease of use, flexibility, and the hundreds of free themes and plugins that can be used to customize and enhance a website’s appearance.
One of the most popular free WordPress plugins is Ninja Forms. It is a free form builder that allows website owners to create a form on their website that can be submitted by visitors. Ninja Form’s powerful features, such as the ability to create a form with several questions and send out email notifications to your subscribers when new forms are submitted, make it an essential plugin for every WordPress website.
However, not all free WordPress plugins are created equal. Some plugins are extremely useful while others are little more than a gimmick. You need to make sure that you are aware of the differences between the two before you start implementing any plugins on your site.
Here is a short guide to helping you choose the right WordPress plugins for your needs.
Look For The Ones That Are Useful
Even before you start looking at the features of a particular plugin, you should be able to determine whether it is useful or not by simply visiting the plugin’s website and seeing how it is presented. If you can’t figure it out from the website, then it probably isn’t that useful. You should avoid getting plugins that require you to register for an account on the site before you can download and use them, as this usually means that there is no one around to help you if you have a problem. Most importantly, you should look for plugins that are useful and that will actually enhance your website’s performance.
Don’t Get Fooled By The Niche
WordPress is a general-purpose CMS that can be used to create websites for any niche. This has made it extremely popular and has also caused a lot of headaches for website owners who try to implement it into a niche site. If you are unfamiliar, a niche website is a type of website that targets a specific group of people within the general population. For example, you might have a website for dog owners who want to find pet stores near them, or you could have a website for wine enthusiasts who want to learn more about the different types of grapes and how to buy and store them.
When you try to implement a plugin into a niche site, it is often the case that one or more of the features don’t exactly match what you need. To use Ubercart as an example, if you are storing and processing payment details, you would want to use the full-featured version, not the free lite version. Even if you only need a basic form to collect email addresses, you would want to avoid the lite version because it doesn’t save your submissions and crashes frequently.
Consider The Size Of Your Staff
One of the biggest problems that website owners have when it comes to implementing a plugin into their site is too many people trying to help them out. When you are first implementing a form into your site, you will probably need someone to help you test it and watch over your shoulder as you fill it out. Once you have that form implemented, you can start to grow your staff just to maintain it and keep it up to date with the latest trends and plugins.
Look For Plugins With Updating News
When you visit a plugin’s website and scroll down to the footer, you will usually see a link to the author’s blog. The blog usually contains a listing of all the new updates that have been released for the plugin. You can use this to your advantage to determine the health of the plugin. If there are no new updates, then there isn’t a lot of interest in the plugin and it may be a good idea to look for alternatives. On the other hand, if there are active updates, then there is a good chance that the plugin is still supported and likely to remain stable.
Avoid Free Plugins That Have Limits
Even if you need a simple form for your website, you should avoid getting a free plugin just because it is free. This is, in fact, one of the biggest mistakes that website owners make every day. Many plugins that are branded as free actually have limitations included with them. These limitations range from required user registration to a limit on the number of forms that can be created. In some cases, these limitations can be removed through payments or a limited number of queries.
Don’t Forget The Security Risk
Every day, new security risks arise. Some of these are legitimate while others are simply created for the sake of creating risk. When you are choosing a WordPress plugin, it is important to consider whether or not it presents any security risks. If you can’t figure this out from the plugin’s website, then you should probably avoid it.
Use Your Common Sense
Even though there are many different types of WordPress plugins out there, there is still only one way to make a truly great website. This is through common sense. You need to figure out what you are trying to achieve and use the right tools for it. If you follow these guidelines, you will be able to find the right WordPress plugins for your needs.