A plugin is like a tool or resource a person may use to get a job done.  We aren’t born with smart phones in our hands, but we’ve learned that we can be more productive if we have one.  So it is with plugins and WordPress.  Plugins can easily be installed to add special functionality to WordPress that doesn’t come out of the box.  For example, while WordPress is set up to be SEO friendly, it doesn’t contain special SEO features that would allow you to set up keywords and descriptions for each page.  Therefore, we install an SEO plugin that adds that functionality.  Another example would be a plugin that inserts the ability to add a home page slider.  WordPress isn’t built with this functionality out of the box, so a plugin adds this ability.  Plugins are really handy tools that allow you to tailor your website to do exactly what you need it to do and no more.  If WordPress came out of the box with every function imaginable, the code would be so bloated and heavy that websites would run extremely slowly.  The use of plugins ensures you aren’t getting more than you need.

But just as a smart phone can be put down when it isn’t needed, a plugin can be uninstalled if it is no longer useful.  A WordPress site can have a limitless amount of plugins, but we recommend no more than 20.  We’ve found that the speed of a website starts to decrease significantly when more than 20 plugins are used, and that more often than not, some of the plugins aren’t being used and can easily be uninstalled.  If you feel like your website is slow, your plugins may be to blame.  We are happy to have a look at your plugins to see which ones are negatively effecting your website speed and recommend how this can be fixed.  Contact us today.