Internet Marketing Clinic 118: WordPress Plugins | RankMath vs Yoast

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Okay I’ll admit it, I am a big fan of WordPress. The whys of course is multi-faceted. Although we talk a lot about the ilks of web site builders, the other side of WordPress is how flexible it is and however even Google is now building plugins.

So what are plugins. They are ways to expand the functionality and capabilities of a basic WordPress site. And there are thousands of them.

I am often asked what are the best and I think in fairness it depends on what you are trying to do. But in today’s Podcast I go into detail about some of the most popular plugins and make some recommendations.
RankMath Vs. Yoast
For a long time Yoast stood alone at the top of the SEO plugin pile. Then came RankMath. It does all the things Yoast does, just better. And it does more than Yoast. It gives a more far more granular control. The numerical value of correctness is handy and easier to make a determination of what you may or may not want to address. If you’re new to it, RankMath is simple to set up and takes a lot of guess work out of what elements on your page needs to be addressed.

The list of features are too many to mention but we recommend RankMath as the SEO plugin for 2020
Google Web Stories
This is a Google created plugin for websites to house web stores, pages designed specifically for small screen browsing.  This is on our radar of things to watch and this is a brief overview of the things you can do with it.
WP Bakery
We think WordPress is powerful, but the user experience is important. There are multiple versions of design helpers that allow you to build better pages. We like WP bakery because the code is clean, and it keeps things loading quickly. Builders like Elementor are solid but add a lot of bloated code in the background. Divi builder is a solid alternative but I don’t think its as intuitive and not great for those who are new to building websites. So it depends on your user level .

Then there is a pile of ones that are not well maintained and often come with Themes and speaking of themes, pick a solid lightweight and flexible theme that allows customization. We recommend U-design for those who ask.
WPRocket
Speed is important. We have found that WP Rocket has all the tools needed to speed your WordPress install up. It also has a built in CDN that is easy to configure, which is important.
Mail Optin
This is a great plugging for sending email from your blog posts as well as building and maintaining a mailing list. We love this plugins because of its versatility as well as its ability to customize our news letters.
Blog2Social
This is another biggie when it comes to our list of favorites. This plugin has allowed for auto posting of our social media posts and has tied it back to our website unlike some of the services that have high prices monthly subscriptions has a low cost annual to it. We setup our blog posts and off they go. It also allows for us to repurpose our content and keep our readers. Best of all it allows for auto posting to Instagram and to GMB.  This one is a must have for serious marketing.

There are multiple other plugins we discuss, including some that we include with our hosting plans. We hope you will find this episode a must listen to guide for WordPress.
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