Who amongst us hasn’t seen a million of these lists… “the essential WordPress plug-ins you absolutely MUST have.” Today, I am sharing my favorite cool plug-ins, the ones you may not know about that can really improve your and your readers’ blog experience. (Links are at the end of this blog.)
BEHIND THE SCENES PLUG-INS:
(1) StatPress Reloaded – Hands-down, one of my favorite plug-ins. This provides real-time analytics on how many times your site’s been seen, which pages, how readers found you, etc. I almost forget to look at Google Analytics anymore.
(2) Ozh’ Admin Drop Down Menu – This cool plug-in makes it easier to read the WordPress menu while on the dashboard. Saves you a lot of clicking. I love this one!
(3) SEO Slugs – Removes words like “a” and “the” from your URL, improving SEO.
IMPROVED READER EXPERIENCE PLUG-INS:
(4) WPTouch – When readers access your website on a mobile device, what do you want them to see? Not some modified version. This plug-in essentially reproduces your WordPress blog on the mobile device. Check out the photo above.
(5) XHanch – My Twitter – Creates a widget to post your most recent tweets. Way more fun than Twitter Tools, and allows you lots of customization: include your photo, choose the headline, select a Twitter icon, etc.
(6) Thank Me Later – This plug-in automatically sends an email to readers who have commented on your post. Your mom was right… thank you notes are good manners!
(7) Post video players slideshow and photo galleries – By Cincopa, allows you to create photo galleries and insert them on specific pages of your website. The gallery is highly configurable, and you can easily add more photos as you go along. Check out my “Funny Fridays” page for an example.
(8) Follow Me – See that little white tab on the left side of the screen? Click on it. This plug-in makes it easy for readers to follow you on all sorts of platforms.
THE JURY’S STILL OUT:
(9) CommentLuv – When readers comment on your posts, this plug-in searches for the last time the reader created a blog post, and inserts the URL for that post. Basically, it rewards the reader for commenting and creates more SEO for your readers. Why is the jury out? Because I just now started using it. Leave a comment on this blog post to see how it works!
(10) LiveFyre – This is a brand new commenting system plug-in, which essentially creates a live conversation around the comments on your blog posts. Still in beta stage, the developers need to email you code before it can be input into your blog. Of course, CommentLuv will be deactivated when I activate LiveFyre. Once I set it up, I’ll report back.
Happy blogging!
Find these great plug-ins here: StatPress Reloaded, Ozh’ Admin Drop Down Menu, SEO Slugs, WPTouch, XHanch – My Twitter, Thank Me Later, Post video players slideshow and photo galleries, Follow Me, CommentLuv, LiveFyre
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Ken Hunter
November 1, 2010Do you have a recommendation for a calendar plugin, especially one that will work well with entries made in Google Calendar?
karen
November 1, 2010Hi Ken, I have not yet successfully added a calendar plug-in. However, check out this link, which reviews various calendar plug-ins. There’s one called ICS Calendar which integrates Google Calendar. Good luck!
http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/wordpress/best-calendar-plugins-wordpress/
Karen
Barbara Ling, Virtual Coach
November 5, 2010I use Light Social meself – I used to use Sexy Bookmarks but that killed my feedburner thingee.
So far, it’s working well…
Karen
November 5, 2010Hi Barbara, you have a great website! I also used to use Sexy Bookmarks, but now I use the Onlywire Submitter. By using this free plug-in, it automically posts my new blog posts on up to 48 social bookmarking sites.
Kimi
November 5, 2010Great list Karen, although mine would be slightly different.
For “Thank Me Later” I hate this plugin if it is not modified. My reasons is whenever i comment to blogs where this plugin installed, i will receive “bot automatic” same email contents, like “thank you for commenting in -blog name- blah blah”.
I mean i know it was meant to be nice, but it is really annoying, because they are all the same. I choose to have replyme plugin, which is more handy.
Karen
November 5, 2010Hi Kimi, I can see your point. One way to stick with the basic idea is to change your message in the Thank You Later settings on a weekly basis. I’ll have to check out the ReplyMe plug-in. Thanks for the suggestion!
Karen
Richard
November 6, 2010I’ve been using WP Stats for my stat plugin and comment relish to send out thank you emails to my commenters. Overall, a good list of plugins. I think you’ll find that commentluv is totally awesome.
karen
November 8, 2010Hi Richard, I had to remove WP Stats because it made my entire website crash… yikes! I will check out Comment Relish… always on the hunt for awesome new plug-ins. Thanks so much!