New to WordPress?
I know that you just installed your first WordPress site and now want to know how to install a WordPress plugin.
Don’t worry it is even easier than installing WordPress on your site.
As you may already knew that WordPress is an open source platform. Here you will find thousands of plugins free of cost (about 47,956 plugins available). Every plugin performs a different role on your WordPress site, and every plugin does have substitutes for it.
So a user may never bound to use a single WordPress plugin.
Also Read:
What is a WordPress Plugin?
A plugin is a software developed in PHP, it allows you to add new features to your WordPress site. Almost all plugins perform different functions such as website caching, security reasons, image optimizations, social media sharing, styling, news subscribers, etc.
So how to install a WP plugin is a task every blogger should know about.
Let’s move to the step-by-step process to install a WordPress plugin with Screenshots.
There are multiple methods to install WordPress plugins. In this article, I will cover two most common and easy ways to install WordPress plugins.
As for beginners, easy ways are acceptable. So here are the two recommended ways to install WordPress plugins on your site:
- WordPress plugin search and install
- WordPress plugin upload and install
There is one more method using FTP, but IÂ won’t suggest it to any beginner. So in this article, we’ll only cover above two mentioned ways to install WP plugins.
#Method-1: Install Plugin Using WordPress Search and Install:
This is the most recommended method for every newbie blogger or site owner. It is the easiest method to install a plugin.
You don’t have to browse any other websites in this method, all you have to do is go to “Add Plugin” page and search your plugin.
Using this method, you can install all plugins available in WordPress plugin directory, but no 3rd party plugins can be found using this method.
Step 1: Open your WordPress Dashboard. Go to Plugins » Add New. Type in the “keyword” for your plugin or exact name if possible.
Step 2: After entering your keyword such as “WP Smush Image Optimizer“. You will get a result with all other related image optimizers plugins for WordPress. Click on the “Install” button and it will start installing.
Step 3:Â After plugin installation is complete. It will ask you to activate it.
And you are ready to go! Isn’t it too easy?
#Method-2: Manually Uploading a WordPress Plugin and Install:
Just in case, the above-mentioned method won’t work for you or if you want to use a 3rd party plugin for your WordPress website which is not available in WordPress plugin directory. As many paid plugins are not available in WordPress plugin directory.
In this method, you need to download a plugin using 3rd party source and it must be in .zip format. You can upload a .zip file to your WordPress site.
Step 1: Starting process is same. Go to WordPress Dashboard. Click on Plugins » Add New. In this page, you will see “Upload Plugin” button at the top of the page, right next to Add Plugins.
Step 2: After clicking on “Upload Plugin” button. A new option will be displayed on the same page, asking you to choose a file to upload. Now choose a file in .zip format and install it.
Step 3: Now “activate” the plugin. And it is ready to use.
Other WordPress Plugins:
- Manage Your Affiliate Links With 8 FREE WordPress Link Cloaking Plugins
- 8 Best Social Media Plugins for WordPress
- 7 Best Push Notifications Plugins For WordPress
Apart from above-mentioned methods to install a plugin on your WordPress site. There is one more manual method to upload and install a plugin into your WordPress site. That method is using FTP method.
But it is a bit complicated for beginners, so I skipped it in this article. I will create another detailed post on how to install a WordPress Plugin using FTP method.
I hope this tutorial will help you in every possible way to install a WordPress plugin. This is one basic thing to know about WordPress but still, it is one important part to be learned by every new blogger.
If you find it easy to understand. All I ask you to spread the words, as there are plenty of new bloggers out there who are still figuring out how to do it.