New plugins I chose for this version of my website and why I chose them.
WP-OPTIMIZE
“WP-Optimize is trusted by more than 1 million WordPress website owners to boost performance and reduce page load times to improve your site’s user experiences and SERP rankings in Google.”
I chose this plugin as I previously experienced a couple loading issues with the old Performance plugin. WP-Optimize was very well-regarded and rated, and seemed to offer more features to maximize speed not just for me, but for all website visitors. The way it describes its 4 features and how they work impressed me with professionalism.
ANTISPAM BEE
“Say Goodbye to comment spam on your WordPress blog or website. Antispam Bee blocks spam comments and trackbacks effectively, without captchas and without sending personal information to third party services. It is free of charge, ad-free and 100% GDPR compliant.”
I appreciated how Antispam Bee focuses on user safety regarding spam. I can tell the creators have thought thoroughly about how spam affects someone’s privacy, and they are straight to the point with a free plugin. I also thought its different smaller features were interesting, like how you can configure comments to only be visible in your chosen language. I could use Antispam Bee daily and probably never get to explore all its robust features.
POWERPRESS
“Backup and restore: take backups locally, or backup to Amazon S3, Dropbox, Google Drive, Rackspace, (S)FTP, WebDAV & email, on automatic schedulesBlubrry PowerPress is the No. 1 Podcasting plugin for WordPress. Developed by podcasters for podcasters; features include Simple and Advanced modes, multiple audio/video player options, subscribe to podcast tools, podcast SEO features, and more! Fully supports Apple Podcasts (previously iTunes), Google Podcasts, Spotify, and Blubrry Podcasting directories, as well as all podcast applications and clients.“
I chose this new podcasting plugin as Seriously Simple Podcasting failed when I needed to meet Lesson requirements. I’m looking forward to being able to post a podcast with a correct category, and I was impressed that it was developed by podcasters themselves. It also offers a backup feature which I may need to use if I have any other plugin issues like before.