So you’ve decided to spice up your blog. Great! Or maybe you’re just starting off and not sure where to start. Well in any case, having a few solid plugins on your site is not only important to provide additional services for your readers, but it also makes posting and maintenance easier for you.
Looking at what I am currently using I thought I would share some of the best plugins to date.
- Askimet: This little plugin should be on all blogs (unless you want spam comments). It assesses the origin of the comment and structure, to determine whether or not it is spam.
- WP Super Cache: If speed is important (which it should be) then be sure to add this plugin. This will help load your blog significantly faster than without it. For those of you with content already on social bookmarking sites, you will see a speed increase immediately
- All-In-One-SEO Pack: This is a perfect plugin for those looking to do a little search engine optimization. If you are looking to get search engines to discover your content, then be sure to add this plugin.
- Google XML Sitemaps: This plugin is great for generating an XML sitemap which allows Google, Ask.com, Yahoo and MSN Search to index your site easily.
- WP Google Analytics: I had to put this plugin down just because I am an avid user of Google Analytics. This allows you to easily track your WordPress site stats.
- Digital Fingerprint: Nothing is worse than finding your content on another site and not being given the credit you deserve. This plugin enables you to search the web for your content that may have potentially been stolen.
- SEO Smart Links: If you haven’t figured it out by now Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is important. This plugin allows you to interlink your articles as well as interlink keywords in your articles.
- Mobile Press: If you’re like me, you enjoy using your phone for more than just making calls. I like using my phone to view websites, check my email, etc. If you want readers to be able to see your site on their phone, then this app is for you!
- Twitter Tools: There are a few options for this service and all are great. This plugin allows you to post your Tweets in a sidebar on your blog.
- Broken Link Checker: This should be an essential tool because it checks all your links on your site to make sure everything is working properly.
As a bonus I decided to throw in one last plugin and its a goody!
- All-In-One-Favicon: I had to put this one down just because it’s so much fun and great for personalization. When readers come to your blog, beside the website address they will see an icon for your site