WORDPRESSTHEMES AND PLUGINS

FINDING A THEMEIT CAN BE CONFUSING

LOTS OF CHOICES

• 1884: wordpress.org

• 2000+: Theme Forest

• 2000+: Independent Theme companies

• Totals are somewhere over 10,000 themes available

SO, WHAT TO LOOK FOR?

• Reviews

• Support tickets

• Number of Downloads

• Recommendations

• Developer Review

WHAT THEMES?

• What’s the goal?

• Budget?

• How comfortable are you making changes?

• Drag and drop?

• Widgetized Homepage?

• Framework (Genesis) vs Starter (_underscores)

• Remember: more options, more issues (maybe)

SOME THEME OPTIONS

FREE

• The Wordpress Repository

• Use resources (Smashing Magazine, WP Tavern, etc.)

• Too many to list

PAID

• Genesis (from StudioPress)

• iThemes

• Make (Free & Paid)

• Headway Themes

• Too many to list

PLUGINSTHEY CAN BE JUST AS CONFUSING

THE SAME CRITERIA APPLIES

• Reviews

• Support tickets

• Number of Downloads

• Recommendations

• Developer Review

SOME RECOMMENDATIONS

SECURITY

• WordFence

• Sucuri Security

• BruteProtect

Security is NOT just a plugin!

• Never use “Admin”

• Regular Core/Plugin Updates

• Strong Passwords

• CDN and Firewalls

• Web Host Monitoring

A FEW OPTIONS

BACKUP

• No One Stop Solution

• Hosting Options

• Need to reliable, automatic, easy to restore

Some Options:

• BackupBuddy (paid)

• Duplicator (free & paid)

• Akeeba (Free)

Better Paid Option:

• VaultPress (http://vaultpress.com/)

SEO & ANALYTICS

Number 1 SEO Choice

• Yoast SEO

Alternatives:

• All In One SEO

• Builtin Theme SEO

ANALYTICS

• Yoast Analytics

• GetClicky.com (paid)

• woopra.com (paid)

• JetPack

SOME QUICK RECOMMENDATIONS

IMAGES

• Imsanity (reduces file sizes on upload)

• RICG Responsive Images (Swaps images based on device)

• Simple Image Widget

FORMS

• Contact Form 7 (Free)

• Jetpack (Free, but Jetpack)

• Gravity Forms* (Paid)

• Ninja Forms (Free & Paid)

The 2 Free options included only do your basic contact form. If you want to get into multistep or forms that can handle more complicated logic then the last 2 options are your better bets with various paid additions/levels.

*This is my option of choice, but Ninja forms is very good too. Ninja basic is free and easy to style out of

the box.

JETPACK

• Free

• All in One Solution

• Works with any theme

• Lots of options

• Ties into wordpress.com

Alternative:

• Jetpack Slim (no tie to wordpress.com)

SOME OTHERS

• WooCommerce (ecommerce)

• iThemes Exchange (ecommerce)

• Easy Digital Downloads (ecommerce)

• Restrict Content (membership)

• WP-Members (membership)

• Paid Membership Pro (membership)

• Wordpress Zero Spam (antispam)

• Disable Comments (comments)

I COULD TALK ALL NIGHT…

– Yogi Berra

“I wish I had an answer to that because I'm tired of answering that question.”

QUESTIONS?

JOHN LAUBERLITTLE LAUBER

DESIGNS

Web: LittleLauberDesigns.com

Twitter: @Johnlauber

Email: john@littlelauberdesigns.com