8 Best WordPress Plugins For Blogs And Bloggers

It's simple to get started with a WordPress blog. WordPress comes equipped with all of the features necessary to create and maintain a successful blog. However, by utilizing the appropriate plugins, you can extend the platform's default functionality. With the addition of a few key tools, your WordPress blog can include features that will significantly simplify your job.

We'll introduce you to the eight best WordPress plugins for bloggers in this article. We chose each one based on the critical features it provides for blogging, as well as its popularity, ratings and reviews, reliability, and support.

Best WordPress Plugins For Blogs

1. Divi Builder

A common area of struggle for many WordPress blogs is determining their visual styles. While the Block Editor gives you extensive control over the layout of each page, it is not the optimal solution for creating unique websites.

The Divi Builder plugin (or theme, if you prefer) addresses this issue by providing access to more advanced tools and allowing you to see each change you make from the perspective of the visitor:

Divi Builder is our in-house page builder plugin for WordPress. You can use it in conjunction with or independently of the Divi theme, and it assists you in creating pages by utilizing pre-built modules that you can customize to meet your specific needs. For more ambitious users, the Divi Theme Builder enables the creation of custom blog post templates that assist authors in quickly producing visually appealing content.

Additionally, Divi Builder integrates with all major email marketing services and includes an Email Opt-in module. That makes it one of the most effective WordPress plugins for bloggers looking to grow their email list.

Additionally, this plugin includes Divi Leads, a split testing and conversion optimization tool. This can be used to experiment with different designs for your blog and determine which ones your visitors prefer. Finally, thanks to built-in integration options, you can use Divi Builder in conjunction with Rank Math (featured next).

If you're looking to create a website but don't know where to start, the Divi Builder is for you

...you want to use a WordPress page builder that provides a fully visual experience and seamless integration with all the tools and platforms necessary for blogging.

2. Rank Math

Choosing a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) plugin is one of the first things we recommend to new WordPress bloggers. There are numerous options, but we prefer to use Rank Math for Divi sites due to the robust integration features available.

Rank Math provides tools for optimizing your pages and posts for specific keywords, as well as for increasing their readability:

With a premium license, Rank Math also integrates keyword tracking directly into the WordPress dashboard. This plugin allows you to connect your site to Google Analytics, add schema markup to your pages, and generate sitemaps.

Additionally, Rank Math includes local SEO tools and WooCommerce-specific features. Additionally, the plugin's tool set is modular. As a result, you can choose which features to enable, making this one of the best WordPress plugins for bloggers.

...you want a WordPress SEO tool that allows you to selectively enable features for your website. Additionally, Rank Math integrates seamlessly with Divi. If you're using the Divi Builder, you can use Rank Math to perform on-page optimization.

3. Footnotes

You cannot trust everything you read on the web, and your most astute readers will demand to know where you got your information. Footnotes are the most elegant way to incorporate citations into your content and increase your credibility.

However, WordPress does not come pre-installed with footnote functionality. This is easily rectified with the Footnotes plugin. This tool enables you to easily incorporate footnotes into any of your pages or posts through the use of simple formatting options.

For instance, you can write the following sentence in the Block Editor:

Columbia was the first shuttle to reach space, launching in 1981 ((Source: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/columbia-takes-flight-40-years-ago)).

The Footnotes plugin will automatically generate a section labeled "references" that looks as follows:

This plugin gives you access to a variety of formatting and short code options for customizing the appearance of your footnotes. Additionally, it is extremely simple and intuitive to use.

this plugin is for you...

...your blog discusses breaking news, technical or complex subjects, or other topics that benefit from frequent citations.

4. PublishPress Editorial Calendar

This roundup will highlight several PublishPress tools, beginning with the developer's Editorial Calendar plugin. You get access to a fully-featured calendar with this tool, which you can use to schedule content for all of your blog's authors:

Authors can use editorial calendars to keep track of which posts they need to complete and when they're due. PublishPress enables you to schedule articles for publication automatically, add notes to individual calendar entries, and plan content months in advance.

Additionally, the plugin includes a notification system that notifies you when new content is published. If you leave editorial notes on the calendar, you can configure notifications for authors so they are immediately notified of schedule changes.

If...

...you enjoy planning your blog posts in advance. If you run a multi-author blog, you absolutely must use a content calendar, and PublishPress is one of the easiest editorial planning plugins available.

5. PublishPress Authors

When you publish a WordPress post, most themes include a small section at the bottom of the page indicating the author's identity. The amount of information contained in that section (and its exact location) will vary depending on the theme you're using. If you want to include a fully functional author box, you should use a plugin like PublishPress Authors.

Author boxes with brief bios and profile pictures, as well as links to their websites and social media accounts, can be added to your content using this solution. Additionally, you can enable authors to include their email addresses in the box if they want readers to contact them:

The plugin creates parallel author profiles for the users you specify, which they can customize with their own information. You can create multi-author boxes for collaborative posts and even allow guest authors to share some information about themselves using PublishPress Authors.

PublishPress Authors is the right choice for you if...

...you manage a blog with multiple authors. While author boxes are beneficial even if you are the sole contributor to your blog, they are a requirement if you work in a team. With author boxes, readers can learn a little bit more about everyone who publishes on your site.

6. PublishPress Revisions

If you want your blog content to remain relevant over time, you must update it on a regular basis. PublishPress Revisions enables your authors to submit content updates and allows you to approve them before they go live.

You gain access to a revision queue via this plugin. This allows you to monitor ongoing posts and approve, reject, or schedule them. Additionally, you can create a new user role dubbed "revisor" with access to this queue:

Additionally, this plugin enables you to configure notifications to notify authors when their updates are accepted or rejected. In the latter case, you can inform authors of the necessary changes and direct them to begin work on new revisions.

If you're looking for PublishPress Revisions, you've come to the right place.

...you desire increased editorial control over the content of your blog. It's prudent to update blog posts on a regular basis, and this plugin enables you to review changes made by authors before they go live.

Price: Free, with premium licenses available for as little as $69 | Additional Information

7. Akismet

Akismet is a well-known WordPress plugin and one of the best WordPress plugins for bloggers. It contributes to the protection of over five million websites against spam comments. Akismet filters comments that it identifies as spam automatically and notifies you of the entries that it removes from your website.

Akismet is a plug-and-play tool in terms of plugins. It lacks configuration options because it relies on its own algorithms to detect spam comments. You can manually approve messages that Akismet rejects by visiting your comments queue, or you can configure the plugin to automatically reject those entries:

Additionally, Akismet keeps track of which comments are manually approved or blocked by moderators. This way, you can ensure that your blog's moderators are effectively identifying legitimate comments.

...you're looking for a plugin that will assist you in removing spam comments from your blog. If you enable comments, you're likely to encounter spam on a regular basis; thus, this solution can save you a lot of time.

8. WP-Optimize

Optimizing your blog's performance is critical for maintaining a happy readership. There are numerous ways to optimize a WordPress website, including image compression, database cleaning, and browser caching.

WP-Optimize is capable of performing all three of these tasks through a single interface:

With a single click, this plugin allows you to clean up post revisions, automatic drafts, and trashed posts. Additionally, you can delete spam comments, which helps you save storage space and maintain a lean WordPress database.