Annemarie O'Bea said: "I'd love to see a list of the WordPress Plugins you find useful. I notice you tend to use some more unique and functional plugins than just the "usual" popular list of seo and social bookmark plugins."
There are 8 WordPress Plugins that I actively use. I'll list them for you here, in no particular order, with the plugin links and a quick explanation of why I chose to use them here at ClickNewz...
- Akismet for Comment Moderation
This plugin protects your blog from comment and trackback spam. It's a must-use, unless you have another plugin installed that serves that purpose.
While it doesn't catch every spam comment, and often marks legitimate comments as spam, overall it works like a charm. I have an assistant that double checks the comments marked as spam to ensure the legitimate comments get discovered and approved. The website is http://akismet.com
- FeedBurner Plugin
I use FeedBurner to "burn my feed" so that I can have RSS statistics. It also integrates with Aweber and allows me to send out a Blog Broadcast - with combined email/RSS subscriber statistics.
The website is: www.feedburner.com
- KeywordLuv Plugin
I prefer this plugin over CommentLuv, which is more popular. KeywordLuv allows readers to create keyword-rich anchor text for their link, without looking spammy. Read the instructions below this post, above the comment section, to see how it works. You can also see it in action in the comment section. Requires a DoFollow plugin to be effective.
The website is: http://www.scratch99.com/wordpress-plugin-keywordluv/
- Subscribe to Comments Plugin
This is probably one of my favorite plugins. It allows readers to subscribe to comments so that they receive email notification when other comments are posted. It helps everyone stay in the loop on the discussion, which creates a sense of community among readers.
It's impossible to keep up with all the blogs you comment on, so email notification of new replies is a must. Otherwise questions go unanswered, or answers go unnoticed, which is a real shame.
The website is: http://txfx.net/code/wordpress/subscribe-to-comments/
- TwitterLink Comments Plugin
This is a cool plugin that lets readers include a link to their Twitter ID with their comment. It's a great way for readers to get to know each other better, in addition to checking out their website. I often follow the people who comment here often, and this plugin makes that super easy.
The website is: http://comluv.com/download/twitterlink-comments
- Slickr Flickr Plugin
I don't use this one often, but I do love it! It displays photos from Flickr in slideshows and galleries, within a blog post. See example.
The website is: www.slickrflickr.com
- Fast Secure Contact Form Plugin
I no longer use this plugin since I moved my contact to www.AskLynnTerry.com, but it's still worth mentioning. This plugin lets you create an email contact form on your WordPress blog: "Super customizable with a multi-form feature, optional extra fields, and an option to redirect visitors to any URL after the message is sent. Includes CAPTCHA and Akismet support to block all common spammer tactics."
The website is: www.fastsecurecontactform.com
- Adsense Plugin by Phil Hord
This plugin is no longer available, and there is no longer an active website at PhilHord.com. That said, the plugin is still working, and very simple to use. You may be able to search "phil hord adsense plugin" and find a download link somewhere. I used it to insert Adsense at the very end of this post as an example...
Which plugins do you use? I look forward to hearing what you use, and more importantly: why. Share your favorites in the comment section below!
Best,
About Lynn Terry
The list I use depends on what needs of the web site - so it varies. I use the Backup Buddy plugin to schedule backups. This is one cool plugin - and I use it to move WP sites for clients. Very slick. Not free - but worth every penny!
Another one I like is Wordbooker, so I can publish a blog post to my personal profile and/or a Facebook page of my choosing. I love that!
A couple more I usually use: WP Touch to make my site mobile-friendly; FormBuilder for my contact form and Twitter Tools to push blog posts to Twitter when I publish.
Those are the ones I use on nearly every site.
I think WP touch is not far away from being obsolete. With iPhones and androids displaying actual web sites, I don't think we'll be worrying about mobiles displays much longer.
True enough I guess, but as someone who does A LOT of work mobile I do love the mobile versions. My forum and blog have entirely too many small links for a limited touch screen and I end up clicking the wrong thing accidentally. Not the case when I use the mobile version. Besides, you have the option to switch which offers the best of both worlds.
I agree that the mobile version is WAY easier to read on my little droid. The mobile plugins I've tried showed all my private pages though. Does WP touch not do that, Traci? Lynn, you didn't mention mobile app plugin. Did you have your mobile site built differently?
With so many WP Bloggers out there, this is an excellent piece to understand the value of having a mobile version for your WP blog. Local Search Marketing is also an area that WP bloggers need to stay on top of.
I thought about using a couple of these tools to convert my WP Blog, but opted instead to build a “companion” version v. the MoFuse or plug-in approach and thus far, its doing ok.
BTW , thanks for the Great post and timely. I just installed WP Touch this week for one of my blogs. I am now creating a custom icon for it and then I will be installing it on all of my blogs!
On my weight loss/fitness blog, I use Akismet, Comment Luv, Photo Dropper (to use Creative commons photos from Flickr), Sexy Bookmarks (so readers can share my content), Comment Reply Notification (although I'm not sure if it's working) and I have added WordPress Editorial calendar but have not used it yet. I have more that do back end stuff, auto upgrades, back ups,etc.
I'm looking for a good related posts plug in (has anyone used nrelate?) Any other suggestions?
Angie:
I love WordPress Editorial Calendar. I don't use it on every blog, but it sure is handy on the ones I do use it on.
Bob
Angie - this is the related posts plugin i use, and it works well. You have to pick a few and see how to work on your site. Those can easily make things silly looking.
Great list Lynn - always good to see which ones I am already using, which ones I'm not and a few that may be better alternatives to ones I've looked at!
I use Askismet (recommended in the 30 Day Challenge and haven't changed it; works well) and I think I use Feedburner (which may have been built into WorkPress Direct?). I have been toying with the KeywordLuv / Link Luv but the wordpress template I'm using does funny things with some plugins (couldn't get the Facebook like one to work properly) so I tend to approach new plugins with caution.
Hi Lynn - what I really like about your and your site is that you go that one step further. Not only do you state the plug ins you like/use, but you create a link to actually show us what it does. Great stuff!
Thank you Caroline 😀
I think only " Akismet " and " Akismet for Comment Moderation" are two different plug-ins to use.
No, one and the same!
The 'Slickr Flickr' plug-in is really cool, I have been struggling to find a suitable slide-show plug-in for my site and will give this one a trial.
The plug-ins I use which are not listed include 'PubSubPubhub' a free and simple way of notifying your subscribers of new content.
(http://code.google.com/p/pubsubhubbub/)
and ' Odiogo' which is also free and creates an audio version of your post, which is useful for people who would prefer an audio version of long posts and you can then list you blog in podcast directories.
(http://www.odiogo.com/listen_button_wordpress.php)
Hi Lynn,
Thanks so much for sharing your list and to all the other contributors to this post!
@Rich, thanks for the Odiogo plugin reference. Sounds like it would work so very well for the hearing impaired in our audiences.
Best,
Martha
Hi Lynn,
Which plugin (if it is a plugin!) did you use to create the social media icons just above the beginning of the "Comments" section of this post?
Thanks!
Martha
Hi Martha,
That was coded into my template by my designer. It's not actually a plug-in...
Good introduction of plug-ins.I will request you write a post in which discuss on all the necessary plug-ins of the wordPress.
The only plugins that are "necessary" are those that do what you want to achieve on any given site. It will be different for every site or WordPress install, depending on your objectives.
To work in wordPress plate form most of the work is done by mastering the plugins and these are the good for wordPress blog.
The list of plugins I use changes periodically although there are some like Akismet that I always use. I also have some sites on which I use plugins that add a benefit just to that particularly site.
This is the list of plugins I am using right on all of my sites: Akismet, All-in-One SEO Pack, Broken Link Checker, Contact Form 7, Dagon Design Sitemap Generator, Google Analyticator, Google XML Sitemaps, RSS Bomber, Simple Facebook Share, WP Database Backup
Now I think I need to add a few more from this list 😉
Thanks Lynn!
I knew about Comment Luv but not Keyword Luv. Like the others, my list changes for different sites, but some I always use include: Askimet, All-in One SEO Pack, Google XML Sitemaps, Feedburner and Google Analytics, Sociable.
I am currently testing out WordPress SEO by Yoast which is supposed to give better results than All in One SEO, as well as Smart Youtube for WordPress. I'll let ya'll know how that goes.
I've also heard good things about sexy bookmarks and the Dagon Design Sitemap Generator.
I have been pretty happy with headspace2 for SEO. I tried all in one SEO for a little bit but got more dramatic results with headspace2. Maybe it was the way I was using it. I also like sexy bookmarks.
Lynn, this is a nice list of useful plugins, especially for commenting. I use Disqus for commenting because it keeps a database of all comments and allows me strict moderation of my blog network. However I would love to try some of these other plugins for commenting on my blog network to see the results from the community.
It's nice to see the plugins that other people use, since you might find a few plugins that are useful to you. Currently, I use Broken Link Checker, Easy Google Analytics for WordPress, Google XML Sitemaps, Platinum SEO Pack, SEOPress, and SEO Rank Reporter. I am currently working on SEO, which is the reason for my plugins. Thanks for sharing this!
Does listing your feedburner RSS feed link as a reference in the header achieve the same result as installing the feedburner plugin? I am hoping to not add additional plugins.
Hey thanks for all the info on the plugins, I just added a few I saw in this post. I want my site to be running great so Im happy to work with plugins other people recommend.
Thanks again!
I love Fast Secure Contact Form Plugin which not only allow to create contact form in seconds but also help to reduce spam mail. Another plugin that i love is All in One SEO.
Awesome plugins, and I also use All-in-one SEO & Platinum SEO. Great stuff.
Hi Lynn,
I'm all for Akismet, but there are some out there that believe it's not the best for spam control. Truth is, i also noticed that it sometimes doesn't work as it should, throwing some valid comments into spam. If you have a lot of comments every day, checking the spam can take up a lot of time. Although i haven't yet found a better alternative, i keep hoping for improvement.
I love Headspace to properly SEO my articles and Thumbnails Related Posts to create a cool thumbnail photo that's linked to another article my readers may like
Thx for sharing this with us Lynn. I use CALENDAR, ALL IN ON SEO PACK, ADVERTIsing MANAGER, EMBEDDED VIDEO, FACEBOOK LIKE BUTTON, FOLLOW ME, JEFF JOHNSONS Free Traffic Getting SEO PluginTM, Enhanced WP-ContactForm, Google XML sitemaps, etc....
Greetings from Belgium
I use Login Limit Lockdown which locks someone out of the WP dashboard for a set amount of time if they fail the login a set number of times and then bans their IP after more attempts. This was actually triggered on one site. Scary that someone is trying to hack into your site.
Lynn,
Great post!
One of my favorite plugins is 'print this' by Lester Chan. It makes it easy for the viewer to print out the wordpress page or post they are on, without getting all the sidebar stuff.
-Christina Hills
'Page links to' plugin is a superb and simple plugin for themes that use homepage sliders or pictures from 'featured images' in posts.
Common problem is when you click on them it takes you to an empty post etc.
This plugin allows you to link any page or post (or images included in any page or post) to any url of your choice internal or external - including 'unlinking the images'. As i say perfect for themes that pull home page images from posts.
Saves hours of code hacking and frustration!
Hi Lynn,
Good core list. I imagine your plugins change based on the site you're working on, as do mine. One very good substitute I've found for the Adsense plugin you mentioned is Paul Force's WP Easy Ads plugin -- you can embed virtually *any* kind of ad with it. I also use a cloaking plugin for outbound links that are affiliates, or a cloaking script if it's on my own server.
Thanks again for the list. 🙂
My apologies to Paul -- his last name is Forcey. 🙂
One of my client sites was getting tons of spam comments so I switched to a different spam plug in called Growmap Anti Spambot Plugin, you just have to click a box to prove you aren't a robot when you leave a comment. We have no spam now. None.
Photo Dropper and even more so, Insights, are my favorite photo grabber plug ins. Insights grabs so much more than just photos if you need it.
I also really appreciate the editors calendar for several of my blogs.
Good Morning Lynn,
Excellent list, I always walk away with something when I stop by. Have over 70 sites up and working, and I rely heavily on my WP standards - Counterize II, WP125, PC-Robots, Secure WordPress, Google XML Sitemaps, WP-reCAPTCHA, All in One SEO, Related Links, and Linkable Title Html and Php Widget by PepLamb... to name just a few. Love Fast Secure Forms, and trying the new plugins you named! Thanks to everyone above me for their great input! And I'm also testing Headspace and Gregs High Performance SEO.
Thanks again!!!
Hi there Lynn,
One of my favorite WP plugins is "Contextual Related Posts". This clever little plugin shows the visitor all your related posts at the bottom of each and every post you make. I agree Akismet sure is a blessing! Slickr Flickr Plugin sounds good, I haven't tried this one.
Nice to have discovered your blog. Have added your link to my website. Thanks.
Regards
Catherine
I love the Slickr Flickr plugin. I use it on a photography blog of mine.
Hey Lynn,
Great list of plugins. I have used Keyword Luv and Subscribe to Comments before. They are really good in engaging your readers.
One of my favourite plugins is Google XML Sitemap as it helps your content to get found by the search engines faster especially if you are building a new website from scratch.
Edmund
I was looking at this list, and several of the links aren't working. Do you have an updated list of plug-ins?
Thanks!