If you’re familiar with WordPress, then you definitely know about plugins. Plugins are bolt-on website solutions that quickly unlock functionality with little to no effort on your website. Want a data table for your site? Install a plugin. Want basic Google Analytics? Install a plugin. With the right plugins, life is easier for website management and enhancements, especially for content contributors, developers, and business owners. However, there are a few pitfalls to be aware of when building and managing your WordPress site with plugins.
Less WordPress Plugins is More
When your website is essentially a giant conglomerate of WordPress plugins, you’re definitely going to have a bad time. An excessive number of plugins installed on your website can slow down the overall navigation across your website. At some point, it may prevent customers from converting on your website. Many plugins are multipurpose and can overlap other plugins, causing certain functionalities to run multiple times. As a result, your overall site performance is degraded, which negatively impacts your SEO and web ranking.
Conflicting WordPress Plugins
Without a proper implementation strategy for your website plugins, you may experience plugins conflicting with one another. What can happen is by installing Plugin A, you overwrite parts of your website that Plugin B needs to function. As a result. Plugin A can disable Plugin B or even worse, crash your whole website. That’s why extreme caution must be taken when installing plugins. The last thing you want to happen is your contact form submissions failing and losing a bunch of leads.
When in Doubt, Write Custom Code
Certain plugins are worth their weight in gold. Contact form database and migration plugins are among a few of them. However, there are times when you’ll realize that certain WordPress plugins are overly designed and can negatively impact your customer’s website experience.
Therefore, make sure you understand the full scope of your plugin. Test your website after implementing a new plugin to identify any shortcomings. If there are serious issues, then custom code may be the way to go. Custom code can be as simple as one line of code or as complex as hundreds of lines of code, granting you full control without another plugin. When faced with a buy/build decision, consult with a developer team like Uplancer for a deep dive behind the code.
Cost Benefits of Plugins
It’s not easy knowing whether a plugin was worth the installation. According to WordPress, there are tens of thousands of plugins available for your website. Many offer a freemium model where a free or paid version is exactly what you need for your website. However, you may find that there isn’t a plugin for the job and customer code is the only way.
A good requirement for your website should identify problems that you’ll need to address. Once you’ve established the requirements, connect with your developer team to identify plugins that could work and budget out the costs for installing and managing them. Additionally, tools like PageSpeed can confirm whether your website performance was negatively impacted by a newly installed plugin.
The Bottom Line / TLDR
Plugins are the way to go for most modern websites. However, care must be taken when implementing them. If you’ve got a few in mind, make sure that you’re not overloading your website with them and that they don’t conflict with each other. Also, thoroughly review prospective plugins to better understand your options and if plugins aren’t an option, consider custom code.
Connect with Uplancer for a free consultation in optimizing your WordPress site and/or plugins. We can also help with identifying and installing plugin solutions and building custom code for your website. Get in touch with us today!
