When You’re Starting a WordPress Blog, You Need This One Plugin

The first addition to a new WordPress installation

A common question I get on how to start a blog is: What plugins do you need? That’s a tricky question. You might need none or only a couple. Others might need a handful or more.

But there’s one plugin (or type of plugin) that every WordPress website — no matter how small or big, how many views or how few — needs right from the get-go. It’s not the only one, but it’s one of the most important that many people forget or don’t even know about.

A caching plugin

A cache plugin will speed up your site, precache pages, reduce loading times, and compress files through minimization (for example, CSS and JS files). In an overwhelming number of cases, a simple free cache plugin will greatly affect page speed. So, go get one!