Ever heard of the broken windows theory? Basically it says that external signs of vandalism encourage bad behavior. Some say that websites would obey the same rule, comment spam and broken links being the broken windows of the internet. If your website is based on WordPress, here are a few plugins to help you keep a neat blog. Apexmetalsigns.com started using these plugins and it helped greatly.
1. Broken link checker
After months or years of blogging, some links on your blog will be broken for sure. Find broken links on your WordPress blog automatically with this plugin and save yourself a bunch of time.
2. WP AntiVirus
A plugin that checks your WordPress theme for malicious code. You can enable a daily scan of your blog to be alerted whenever someone inserts malicious code. I’ve had one of my other blogs excluded of Google’s index because of code inserted in the theme, this would have saved me in that case.
3. Akismet
The ultimate spam-fighting tool for WordPress, already eradicated more than 62’000 comment spam on Designer Daily. Just imagine how much time I saved with this.
4. www Redirect
If you are not comfortable with tweaking your blog’s .htaccess file, this plugin will help you to redirect all urls to the settings of your choice (www or not). Using this can help to avoid Google thinking that your site has duplicate content.
5. WP Database Backup
WordPress backups made easy. This plugin lets you
6. WP Security Scan
Checks if your WordPress installation is secure looking at various factors (password strength, database security,…).
About the Author
Mirko Humbert
Mirko Humbert is the editor-in-chief and main author of Designer Daily and Typography Daily. He is also a graphic designer and the founder of WP Expert.