As I rebuilt my site, I took some time to consider my plugin options to see what would be helpful to reactivate for my site. I ended up reactivating these plugins:

Security: WordFence, WP Activity Log, Login Lockdown

For security, I reactivated WordFence for essential site security like firewall and malware detection, Login Lockdown to prevent unauthorized logins, and WP Activity Log to track site activity and catch security issues as soon as possible.

Accessibility: Accessibility by UserWay

I reactivated Accessibility by UserWay to help keep my site in compliance with accessibility standards. 

Backup: Updraft Plus

Updraft Plus is my backup plugin and automatically keeps backups I can use to restore my site if necessary.

Analytics: Google Analytics

Google Analytics stayed my web analytics plugin, as well, since I didn’t have any issues with the integration or information provided.

Performance: W3 Total Cache, AMP for WordPress, Image Optimization by Optimole

My Performance plugins are W3 Total Cache which provides a better user experience by speeding up the load times of the site, AMP for WordPress which does the same thing for mobile pages specifically, and Image Optimization Service to help with this endeavor as well by managing the images on my site to ensure they also load efficiently.

Social Media: Simple Social Buttons, Smash Balloon Instagram Feed

Social media was incorporated through Simple Social Buttons to add the option for users to easily share content through social media, and Smash Balloon to share feeds from other social media platforms on the site.

Comment/Spam Management: Akismet

Akismet was activated to handle spam content and comments, making sure the comments section stays clean and for users only.

Podcasts: Seriously Simple Podcasting

Seriously Simple Podcasting is my plugin for embedding podcasts in my posts and pages, chosen because I liked using it the first time around.

Slider: Smart Slider 3

Smart Slider 3 is reinstalled for my slider features for the same reason – it was easy to use and I had no issues.

E-commerce: WooCommerce

And finally, for the e-commerce side of things, WooCommerce is reinstalled to handle the storefront as it provides many useful options to set this up for the best user experience.