​1. OneSignal Push Notifications - You know how some sites ask you if you want push notifications in your browser for updates? Well this is a plugin that can do that for you. This is becoming more popular, and instantly lets your readers know when you have a new post. It is very customizable and easy to configure. 

​2. Print, PDF & Email by PrintFriendly - You know when you find that blog post you need to print? Well if you just use a browser's print function the result can be less than pretty. This plugin removes the excess 'junk' like sidebars and many ads so the printed result is nice and clean. You can also print directly to PDF, or send the blog post in a nicely formatted email. 

​3. Really Simple SSL Pro -  Want to enable SSL on your site, check for mixed content, conifigure HSTS, then this plugin is for you. There's a basic free version, then a Pro version with even more features. The author is extremely helpful and responsive, should you have any questions. Highly recommended. 

​4. Schema Pro - Schema Pro is a plugin by the same company that created the Astra theme and other WordPress plugins. It helps your SEO by enabling search engines to better consume your content. They have a number of schema available, such as review, article, product, recipe, etc. Installation and configuration is super simple. 

​5. Simple Social Icons - There are a bazillion social media plugins, but this one is clean, simple, and free. It allows you to add low-key social icons to your site. Many, many options which are highly configurable.

​6. Social Login - If you want to enable social media logins for your WordPress comments or your WordPress admin login, this is the plugin for you. I first tried another plugin, and it was slow, buggy, and just very poorly written. This one, on the other hand, is easy to configure and adds minimal bloat to your pages. it supports nearly 30 social logins (e.g. Amazon, Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc.)

​7. Social Media Widget - Social Media Widget lets you add social media icons on your site so that readers can easily follow you on various platforms. Quite configurable and easy to use. Free. 

​8. Social Warfare (Pro) - Social Warfare Pro is an amazing plugin that adds icons to let your readers share your content via Twitter, LinkedIn, and many other platforms. The bar can float over your page, or be configured in a number of other ways. Top-notch technical support, and I'm very impressed. Top pick! 

​9. Thrive Architect - Thrive Architect is a visual editor for WordPress that lets you construct visually rich content with drag and drop ease. I'm using this right now to write this blog post. I recommend it for blog posts over Beaver Builder or Elementor Pro. If you want a page builder for constructing a new site, I recommend Elementor Pro. Thrive is very flexible and has a lot of modules.

​10. Updraft Plus - Everyone needs a WordPress backup and restore plugin. Even if your hosting service does backups, you still want an 'off site' copy in case your provider goes belly up, gets hacked, or suffers a catastrophic data loss. This plugin also can migrate your WP site to another hoster with just a few clicks. Highly recommended, and connects to a number of cloud providers such as DropBox, OneDrive, Google Drive, Amazon S3, etc. 

​11. WP Retina 2x Pro - Today many devices have ultra-high DPI screens, or so called "retina" screens. This is particularly true on phones, tablets, and those lucky enough to have 4K screens. This plugin makes sure high res images are served on those devices. Easy to use and configure.

​12. WP Rocket - An amazing top-rated plugin to speed up page loads on your WordPress site and also performs deep page caching. Minifies CSS and JS, as well as many other functions. Significantly improves GTMetrix, Pingtom, and other page testing results. Well worth the money. 

​13. Yoast SEO - Last but not least, is Yoast SEO. It's a must-have plugin for optimize your SEO and improving your ranking in search results. Free and Pro versions available.