Why do we use plugins on a WordPress website? To make it do things that we want it to do – to create a beautiful slider or a results-driven eCommerce store, to collect emails for your email blasts, to show off your work in a way that wasn’t possible before, and for many other improvements and enhancements. But one day you may start to wonder – is there a limit? Can there be too many plugins on a website? When do they stop improving your website and start making it work worse? We have years of experience developing WordPress websites with complex plugins, so we know all about them. We are here today with a list of reasons to stop and think before adding another plugin to your website. Here are the top 4 reasons to limit the usage of plugins on a WordPress website.
- They slow down your website
You see this car right here? You may think that it looks cooler than before (not really), but will it run smoother and faster now? No way! Same with plugins. When you install too many, they start to overload the website. For every plugin you use, a server request is sent when each user is loading a page on your website. It adds even more code to the browser and can affect the loading speed. You already know that a slower loading speed leads to a bad user experience, lower search rankings, and lower sales. You definitely don’t want your website to go to the second page of Google just because of a useless plugin.
- They make your website less secure
We all know that WordPress core is very secure – it has been for years and there isn’t much hackers can do to break it. But all it takes to take down a website is just one plugin with an exploit. Sometimes plugin developers aren’t concerned about the safety of their product. Plugins they create may be an easy target for a scam hacker. Imagine what will happen if someone finds a hole in a plugin for WooCommerce? All customers data may be lost, including name, address, and even a credit card information. Once people learn that it was your website that leaked their data, you are going to have many new problems to deal with. Therefore, you must make sure you don’t use plugins that can’t be trusted.
- Plugin updates may break your website
The SurfYourName team has a bunch of stories of broken sites we had to fix after a plugin update: “I updated all plugins and then something broke!”, “There were no products in my online store after the latest update!”, “We updated the website and our podcast feed wasn’t working anymore!”, etc. – these are the problems people face when they have too many plugins to update. We know that even a single plugin must be updated carefully. This is why it’s so important to know that you are dealing with. Check your website before and after every update and always do backups! You probably already know why backups are so important. You never now what might happen after you click “Update”. If you’d rather leave updates and maintenance to the professionals – check out our maintenance packages!
- Similar plugins might interfere with each other
As we said – know what you’re dealing with. We always explain to our clients how their websites work, what features they have already, and what can be added later. Every time you want to add another plugin, make sure you don’t have a similar plugin that does the same work. When you have plugins that duplicate each other’s functionality, there might be problems. Starting from simple functionality copying, these problems might easily break your website. That’s why you need to be aware of the full feature list of the plugins you have on your website.
SurfYourName have seen so many plugins and problems they may cause. We have a list of trusted plugins that can’t hurt your website that we always use. Every time we decide to add another plugin to a client’s website, we do a small investigation to be sure that it will actually improve the website and not break it in the end. We are always ready to help you with your current website no matter the condition. If an updated and secure website is what you’re looking for, take a look at our security and maintenance packages and contact us today! Let’s make the most of your website without breaking it.
