How to Install 21 WordPress Plugins in 5 Minutes
Once you have done the basic setup of your WordPress Website it’s time to give it some more functions by adding some plugins.
Here is my basic list of plugins I integrate in every WordPress website that I build.
Basic WordPress Plugins List
Dagon Design Sitemap Generator
FD Feedburner Plugin
Flexi Pages Widget
Google XML Sitemaps
HeadSpace2
My Page Order
NextGEN Gallery
Related Posts
Robots Meta
Secure Files
SEO Slugs
Subscribe To Comments
Wordpress Automatic Upgrade
WordPress Database Backup
WordPress File Monitor
WP-DBManager
WP-SpamFree
Fancybox
WP Security Scan
W3 Total Cache
Yes, you counted right, those are 20 different plugins… and if you have ever installed a plugin you know what it takes to install all those plugins.
Search for the plugin on the wordpress.org site, click the install button, see if the installation went well and activate the plugin.
Plugin nr 21 to the rescue, meet Plugin Central!
Plugin Central is a plugin created by Vladimir Prelovac and it is a great time saver.
This is always the first plugin I install by using the standerd process via Plugins -> add new -> Search -> Install -> activate process.
Once you have done the same, the magic begins. Go to the option Plugin Central in je Plugins menu.
The next screen gives you the option that you are going to use. Pay special attention to the field were you can paste the list shown above.
You can of course just type the names of other plugins you want to install.
Once you are satisfied with your list click the “Install Plugins” button.
Depending on your hosts security settings it might ask you for your ftp data like ftp site, username and password or it starts to work directly.
The whole process of installing the plugins depends on your hosting environment, but with my Just Host based websites it takes even under two minutes for the 20 plugins.
After the whole process ran, you need to active all those plugins which takes about four clicks.
Go to the installed plugins page, click the top checkbox (Plugin) choose from the dropdown menu “Activate” and then push “Apply”.
Now all of your plugins are active, some of them need some configuration (Google xml sitemaps, Wp Super cache and Askimet, etc) but most of them are running right of the bat.
Configuring the plugins will take some time but you just saved a lot of time, so go ahead and set all the options that you want and need. I will be writing more about some of these plugins, but for now its time for you to take action!
June 13, 2010 by Herbert-Jan van Dinther · 8 Comments
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About Herbert-Jan van Dinther
I’ve been wanting to recreate my main site http://www.cats90210.com with wordpress, where my Blog is. but the static pages I’ve build all have this at the bottom: Comments on this entry are closed. I dont want that on all my pages, how do I prevent that?
@Rita: I see you use the Thesis theme, in the Thesis options you have section called “Display Options”.
Click on the + sign behind the “Comments” en then check the tickbox before “Disable comments on all pages” that should do the trick.
That option was selected, yet that annoying message appears… I can’t get rid of it! Maybe it’s time to dump Thesis.
Oh I take it back, I see where you mean, I was setting that option on individual pages. Thanks!
@Rita, Looks fine now! You could do some testing with Images in Thesis Posts like I do on my site http://herbertvandinther.com/
It could spice up your blog a bit more, not the way like http://icanhascheezburger.com/tag/happycat/ but with some great cat pictures.
I have a cat myself and he is now 21 years old.
P.s, what is this thing that Bloggers have with Cats….
Thanks, I am in the midst of a complete redesign of my Blog and two websites, goal is to appeal to a more upscale clientele (who wont keep complaining about having to pay for our services!) Thanks for the help and encouragement!
Wow 21 years old, that’s wonderful!!
If I might ask a strategy question. I already have a website, already have a wordpres blog. I want to redo my website in wordpress now too, which will include either using a new theme or designing one myself. In order to do this, I assume I need to reinstall wordpress in a new directory so I can work on it while leaving my current wordpress blog unaffected, and I’d just point to the same data so I don’t lose my current posts, am I right?
@Rita: My take would be to install WordPress in a new directory like /cms with its own database.
Then export all the data from your old WordPress blog and import it into the new one. Start building your site with pages to reflect the old static site.
Make sure your keep the post slugs the same as the old site URLs. (use a plugin like “.html on pages” if you currently use the .html extension.
Once your site is ready you need to take a few steps to get it live:
1. remove or rename the index.html from your old site.
2. copy the index.php and .htaccess file from your subdirectory to the root
3. change one line in the index.php file to require(‘./cms/wp-blog-header.php’);
4. change only the Blog address in the General settings to the real site name.
This will give you the possibility to build your site upfront and get in live in five minutes….