I’m setting up an ecommerce site for my future publishing business. I’ll be selling books and maybe services later on. Based on that, what plugins do you think I need?
Something to keep customer data safe
Something to help pages load faster
Security against hackers
Backup for the site (BTW, doesn’t Bluehost already do this?)
SEO
Caching
Anything else I might be missing
I hope these plugins won’t be too expensive… I haven’t even launched yet, just building the site right now. I’m a front-end designer and want to shift into publishing, so I’m learning WordPress as I go. So far, I like it a lot, but there’s a lot to learn!
Running an ecommerce store? These plugins can help with various tasks:
Yoast SEO
WPForms
MonsterInsights
OptinMonster
WP ERP
Jetpack
Mailchimp for WooCommerce
These should help you manage the store better and improve customer engagement. If you’re unsure which to pick, here’s a comparison of ecommerce plugins.
Looks like you already know what features you need, which is a great start.
If you search online for recommended plugins in each category, you’ll find a few good free and paid options. It’s best to try a few and see what works.
Have you already decided what plugin you’ll use for the ecommerce part? Since you’ll be selling digital products and services, it’s worth checking if there’s a better option than WooCommerce for that.
But I noticed a lot of plugins overlap in features, which makes it confusing. I don’t want to pay for something I don’t need.
Yeah, that happens when you rely on plugins instead of coding the features yourself.
You might find a plugin that does X, Y, and Z, but you only need Y. Then there’s another plugin for A, but it also does B, C, and D. Now you’ve got two plugins, but you’re only using a couple of features from each.
If you know some coding, you can create a child theme and add custom functions to the functions.php file. Or you can use a code snippets plugin if you prefer something with a user interface.
That said, most essential plugins are available for free. Stuff like Duplicator for backups, SEO plugins, and Smush for image optimization can be found in the plugin directory. Some offer a pro version, but the free ones usually get the job done.
Try things out and keep your plugin count low. Too many plugins can increase security risks and make maintenance harder. Always test updates on a staging site first before applying them to the live site.