Every once in a while you might find something really cool you’d like to put on your blog or site. Usually these things require a little coding, or the pasting of code. For example, creating a Google Analytics account requires you to paste a bit of tracking code onto your blog or website.
Now this may not seem like a big deal, just pasting some code into your template, but where do you put the code? How do you know it’s in the right place? Would you be able to find it later? How would you modify it? Would you remember to re-paste this code every time you switched to a different template? These are several questions some people never think about or contemplate. One way to help the situation would be to use good commenting practices. You could clearly block off an area marking the beginning and end of your added code. You could also write a few lines describing what the code is, what the code is doing and where the code was obtained. This still doesn’t take care of the problem of switching templates. You would still lose all of the custom edits you made and the valuable time you spent.
You might have guessed this already from the title, but I would suggest a plugin if possible. Plugins can be easily turned on and off and they don’t get tossed in the trash when you uninstall or change a template. They can also be customized and configured with appropriate settings. Going back to our Google Analytics example, there are several Wordpress plugins designed just for this task. All you have to do is go to the Wordpress Plugin Directory and search for “google analytics.” It’s just that easy.
The next step is choosing one that will work best for you. This can be easier said than done. Sometimes you’ll need to try a few out and see which you like best. There are many factors that can affect the selection process. These could include how and where you want to use it, the version of your blogging tool, how much you want to customize the plugin and even the fact if it works or not. It’s usually not a bad idea to check out user reviews if they’re available - and don’t just read the first one you see. Like most things in life there are people that both hate and love every plugin out there. Try to read at least a few reviews to get a general idea of how people feel about it. From there, it’s just trial and error, but hopefully you won’t have to deal with all of that hassle. We’re planning on testing a lot of these plugins to give you the rundown of when, where and why you might want to use it.
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