Plugins are the little apps in your WordPress install that make your site functional, dynamic and interesting.
It’s true that badly coded plugins can mess up your site, but that is no reason to fear them. Through scrupulous research into the plugin’s description, rating, upgrade history, and support on the developers forum, any blogger can make an informed decision on which WordPress plugins to upload.
The first thing to remember is that plugins are for the page, widgets are for the sidebar. But both are uploaded through the WordPress plugin uploader. So if a plugin’s description does not say it’s a widget, then it is a plugin for the page.
When I coach my WordPress Workshop, bloggers often ask what plugins they should be using. With too many to number, I usually just show them what plugins I am currently using on my blogsites.
My Favorite WordPress Plugins
Here is a list of my favorite WordPress plugins that I’m using now. Plugins are listed alphabetically and include the developers blurb.
“Used by millions, Akismet is quite possibly the best way in the world to protect your blog from comment and trackback spam.”
This is no exaggeration. Akismet kills spam like Roundup to weeds. Comes standard with some themes, but you still need to sign up for an API key to connect the service. Payment is by estimated donation. Avoid at your peril.
Add Link to Facebook
Version 1.182 | By Marcel Bokhorst
“Automatically add links to published posts to your Facebook wall or pages.”
This plugin is great for automatically posting to Facebook and has lots of options to choose from. Best of all, when someone comments on FB it shoots the comment to your blog. Worst part is navigating FB to create the app to make the connection which works better with private pages than fan pages
HMS Testimonials
Version 2.0.3 | By HitMyServer LLC
“Displays your customer testimonials.”
HMS Testimonials will display your testimonials according to groups or randomly, rotating or static, and either on the page or in a widget. The formatting can change according to your theme and can be customized with HTML tags it provides. Pretty nifty.
Version 2.0.2 | By Eightfold Logic Inc.
“InboundWriter enables writers, bloggers, and marketers to easily create and improve online content for increased reach, engagement and conversions.”
This WordPress plugin will coach you on keyword placement in your content by showing you the number of times a keyword appear, how each word ranks in search engines, making suggestions, and even presenting an odometer to give you a score. Kind of like driving a search engine. Read my review here.
Login Security Solution
Version 0.37.0 | By Daniel Convissor
“Requires very strong passwords, repels brute force login attacks, prevents login information disclosures, expires idle sessions, notifies admins of attacks and breaches, permits administrators to disable logins for maintenance or emergency reasons and reset all passwords.”
The description says it all. I uploaded this during the Brute Force Attack of last month and it sent me emails announcing the number of times a bot came knocking at my site’s door. It continues to nag me about having my subscribers change their passwords. Good plugin.
Outbound Link Manager
Version 1.2 | By Morris Bryant, Ruben Sargsyan
“The Outbound Link Manager monitors outbound links in your posts and pages, easily allowing you to add or remove a nofollow tag, update anchor texts, or remove links altogether.”
In its dashboard, this plugin makes it easy to change your links from Follow to No Follow either individually or as a bulk action. Why make your links No Follow? Read this.
Redirects
“Create redirects from old urls to the new.”
Got 404 errors? Redirects is a convenient way to redirect those broken links to a live page. The best part is how it allows you to upload bulk page links through a csv file provided by Google Webmaster Tools .
Version 4.0.2 by Blink Web Effects
“Adds links to all of your social media and sharing site profiles. Tons of icons come in 3 sizes, 4 icon styles, and 4 animations.”
Resuscitated from its recent disgrace of passing malware, the new version of this handy widget lists so many sharing sites, many of which you might never have known existed.
Ultimate TinyMCE
“Beef up your visual tinymce editor with a plethora of advanced options.”
If you like to format the hell out of your posts and pages, this plugin is for you. It offers way more tools than anyone can use at once.
Version 1.4.7 | By Joost de Valk
“The first true all-in-one SEO solution for WordPress, including on-page content analysis, XML sitemaps and much more.”
WordPress SEO is the motherlode of search engine optimization as it does the work of many other of my favorite WordPress plugins – all in one place. On the page or post it’s a godsend the way it shows you how to place your keywords in order to make search engines notice your site. And its analysis offers lots of food for improvement thought. A total must-have plugin.
Ok, so that’s just me and my plugins. I know there are tons of great WordPress plugins out there that I’m not using. Please tell me about your favorites.
And remember to plugin, tune up, and build out.