If you run one of the 70 million websites built with WordPress, you
are likely concerned about SEO, and overwhelmed by your options. These
days, there is no shortage of plugins built to assist with SEO and
social sharing, but it’s hard to find the gems in a sea of widget
madness. Read on for advice on which are truly helpful in boosting your
search engine efforts!
WordPress SEO Basics
Before you start installing a plethora of plugins, you’ll want to
tackle a few basic SEO tasks on your WordPress site. These are
must-haves for Google-friendly sites, and are a great place to start
your strategy.
1) Map Out Your Site’s Structure
All you need to create an easy to follow site flowchart is a great MindMap tool. Mind42
makes an excellent one, and it’s totally free too. The tool will help
you create a site guide that compartmentalizes navigation sections and
lets you see a snapshot of the entire flow.
2) Setup Your Permanent URL Structure
First, set your preferred permalinks format in the WordPress
settings; you’ll have several options to choose from, but none are
completely SEO friendly. To rectify this, download the WP No Category Plugin, which will then remove the <word>/category sections of your URLs. This makes them clean, concise, and keyword rich.
3) Specify Which Folders Can and Cannot Be Crawled
Chances are there will be sections of your site that you would rather
not allow search engines access to. To manage this process, create a
Robots.txt file in the top-level directory of your site. For full
instructions on how to add one to your site, visit the ‘Robots.txt
how-to guide’ (http://www.robotstxt.org/ robotstxt.html). Once created,
you can specify any folders that search engines will thereby ignore, and
keep others from spying on this private content as well. It’s also a
great solution for hiding duplicate content. Don’t forget that users can
still access the pages through the direct URL.
4) Create a Sitemap
Many of the tools listed below will help you quickly generate a sitemap. When this is complete, don’t forget to submit it to Google Webmaster Tools and Bing Webmaster Tools as a request to start crawling your content.
The Best WordPress SEO Plugins
1) SEO Ultimate
This puppy is a meta data powerhouse, with access to controls for
descriptions and keywords, Google Webmaster Verification, and
integration with Google Analytics. If you have a lot of pages with
separate titles, Ultimate will help you manage all this data with ease.
2) Local Search SEO Contact Page
Perfect for those just beginning their quest for great SEO, Local
Search allows you to add all business information to your site’s contact
page, and will also include an embedded Google map, which links to your
Google+ Local account.
3) WordPress by Yoast
Yoast helps determine what your current SEO score is, and in tandem,
lets you monitor the areas that require some improvement. Yoast will let
you know if your keywords are missing from title and H1 tags, and looks
at your content and metadata too. This tool is rumored to be the
most-used WordPress SEO plugin, and for good reason. It assists in
setting up XML sitemaps, helps you map out all title and description
templates, and truly enables you to stay on top of all the SEO
must-do’s. If you only have one SEO plugin, this should be it. It’s
regularly updated too, which is a big bonus.
Top SEO-Friendly Image and Content Tools
1) SEO Friendly Images
This plugin does exactly what you’d expect – ensures all your images
have alt attributes, title tags and all other relevant search engine
data. There’s also a premium version that unlocks a myriad SEO features,
like XML sitemap generators and custom settings.
2) SEO Content Control
If you’ve got a lot of content on your site, you need this tool to
help you identify the weakest links. Options for SEO Content Control
include viewing a list of all pages/posts that have lackluster (too
short) text, missing meta data, and missing keywords.
Must-Have Analytics Plugins
1) SEO Rank Reporter
Rank Reporter is an awesome tool that allows you to monitor your
Google ranking through your WordPress dashboard, and it’s updated every
three days. This plugin will help you assess if and when more SEO
improvements are needed. When your ranking slips, you can use the other
tools to identify why this may have occurred, and then set out to
address each one.
2) Google Analyticator
If you’re a fan of Google Analytics, download this plugin now and
integrate the data directly into your WordPress dashboard. You’ll be
able to view your top performing pages, referrers, and keywords, among
many other invaluable metrics.
Top-Notch Social Plugins
1) Sociable
Sociable is a superior sharing plugin that is jam-packed with
customization options. It features an excellent default setup,
with the options to use all your own personal icons and images.
It’s super easy to connect to most WordPress themes, and makes
your social sites immediately accessible to your users.
2) Social Media Tabs
This one is a unique plugin that allows you to add a social media
widget to your site in a tabbed format, showing data from your major
social sites. It currently supports Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest,
Google+, YouTube, Flickr, and RSS.
You are now armed with a gaggle of excellent, functional and
easy-to-use WordPress SEO tools. Go forth and enjoy your increased
rankings!
Also Read: 11 Factors to Consider to Choose a Wordpress Theme or Blogger Template
Top SEO Plugins for WordPress Sites
Showing posts with label Plugin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Plugin. Show all posts
Top SEO Plugins for WordPress Sites
If you run one of the 70 million websites built with WordPress, you
are likely concerned about SEO, and overwhelmed by your options. These
days, there is no shortage of plugins built to assist with SEO and
social sharing, but it’s hard to find the gems in a sea of widget
madness. Read on for advice on which are truly helpful in boosting your
search engine efforts!
WordPress SEO Basics
Before you start installing a plethora of plugins, you’ll want to tackle a few basic SEO tasks on your WordPress site. These are must-haves for Google-friendly sites, and are a great place to start your strategy.
1) Map Out Your Site’s Structure
All you need to create an easy to follow site flowchart is a great MindMap tool. Mind42 makes an excellent one, and it’s totally free too. The tool will help you create a site guide that compartmentalizes navigation sections and lets you see a snapshot of the entire flow.
2) Setup Your Permanent URL Structure
First, set your preferred permalinks format in the WordPress settings; you’ll have several options to choose from, but none are completely SEO friendly. To rectify this, download the WP No Category Plugin, which will then remove the <word>/category sections of your URLs. This makes them clean, concise, and keyword rich.
3) Specify Which Folders Can and Cannot Be Crawled
Chances are there will be sections of your site that you would rather not allow search engines access to. To manage this process, create a Robots.txt file in the top-level directory of your site. For full instructions on how to add one to your site, visit the ‘Robots.txt how-to guide’ (http://www.robotstxt.org/ robotstxt.html). Once created, you can specify any folders that search engines will thereby ignore, and keep others from spying on this private content as well. It’s also a great solution for hiding duplicate content. Don’t forget that users can still access the pages through the direct URL.
4) Create a Sitemap
Many of the tools listed below will help you quickly generate a sitemap. When this is complete, don’t forget to submit it to Google Webmaster Tools and Bing Webmaster Tools as a request to start crawling your content.
The Best WordPress SEO Plugins for Wordpress
1) SEO Ultimate
This puppy is a meta data powerhouse, with access to controls for descriptions and keywords, Google Webmaster Verification, and integration with Google Analytics. If you have a lot of pages with separate titles, Ultimate will help you manage all this data with ease.
2) Local Search SEO Contact Page
Perfect for those just beginning their quest for great SEO, Local Search allows you to add all business information to your site’s contact page, and will also include an embedded Google map, which links to your Google+ Local account.
3) WordPress by Yoast
Yoast helps determine what your current SEO score is, and in tandem, lets you monitor the areas that require some improvement. Yoast will let you know if your keywords are missing from title and H1 tags, and looks at your content and metadata too. This tool is rumored to be the most-used WordPress SEO plugin, and for good reason. It assists in setting up XML sitemaps, helps you map out all title and description templates, and truly enables you to stay on top of all the SEO must-do’s. If you only have one SEO plugin, this should be it. It’s regularly updated too, which is a big bonus.
Top SEO-Friendly Image and Content Tools for Wordpress
1) SEO Friendly Images
This plugin does exactly what you’d expect – ensures all your images have alt attributes, title tags and all other relevant search engine data. There’s also a premium version that unlocks a myriad SEO features, like XML sitemap generators and custom settings.
2) SEO Content Control
If you’ve got a lot of content on your site, you need this tool to help you identify the weakest links. Options for SEO Content Control include viewing a list of all pages/posts that have lackluster (too short) text, missing meta data, and missing keywords.
Must-Have Analytics Plugins for Wordpress
1) SEO Rank Reporter
Rank Reporter is an awesome tool that allows you to monitor your Google ranking through your WordPress dashboard, and it’s updated every three days. This plugin will help you assess if and when more SEO improvements are needed. When your ranking slips, you can use the other tools to identify why this may have occurred, and then set out to address each one.
2) Google Analyticator
If you’re a fan of Google Analytics, download this plugin now and integrate the data directly into your WordPress dashboard. You’ll be able to view your top performing pages, referrers, and keywords, among many other invaluable metrics.
Top-Notch Social Plugins for Wordpress
1) Sociable
Sociable is a superior sharing plugin that is jam-packed with
customization options. It features an excellent default setup,
with the options to use all your own personal icons and images.
It’s super easy to connect to most WordPress themes, and makes
your social sites immediately accessible to your users.
2) Social Media Tabs
This one is a unique plugin that allows you to add a social media widget to your site in a tabbed format, showing data from your major social sites. It currently supports Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, YouTube, Flickr, and RSS.
You are now armed with a gaggle of excellent, functional and easy-to-use WordPress SEO tools. Go forth and enjoy your increased rankings!
Article by Tina Courtney-Brown in SPN
Top SEO Plugins for WordPress Sites
WordPress SEO Basics
Before you start installing a plethora of plugins, you’ll want to tackle a few basic SEO tasks on your WordPress site. These are must-haves for Google-friendly sites, and are a great place to start your strategy.
1) Map Out Your Site’s Structure
All you need to create an easy to follow site flowchart is a great MindMap tool. Mind42 makes an excellent one, and it’s totally free too. The tool will help you create a site guide that compartmentalizes navigation sections and lets you see a snapshot of the entire flow.
2) Setup Your Permanent URL Structure
First, set your preferred permalinks format in the WordPress settings; you’ll have several options to choose from, but none are completely SEO friendly. To rectify this, download the WP No Category Plugin, which will then remove the <word>/category sections of your URLs. This makes them clean, concise, and keyword rich.
3) Specify Which Folders Can and Cannot Be Crawled
Chances are there will be sections of your site that you would rather not allow search engines access to. To manage this process, create a Robots.txt file in the top-level directory of your site. For full instructions on how to add one to your site, visit the ‘Robots.txt how-to guide’ (http://www.robotstxt.org/ robotstxt.html). Once created, you can specify any folders that search engines will thereby ignore, and keep others from spying on this private content as well. It’s also a great solution for hiding duplicate content. Don’t forget that users can still access the pages through the direct URL.
4) Create a Sitemap
Many of the tools listed below will help you quickly generate a sitemap. When this is complete, don’t forget to submit it to Google Webmaster Tools and Bing Webmaster Tools as a request to start crawling your content.
The Best WordPress SEO Plugins for Wordpress
1) SEO Ultimate
This puppy is a meta data powerhouse, with access to controls for descriptions and keywords, Google Webmaster Verification, and integration with Google Analytics. If you have a lot of pages with separate titles, Ultimate will help you manage all this data with ease.
2) Local Search SEO Contact Page
Perfect for those just beginning their quest for great SEO, Local Search allows you to add all business information to your site’s contact page, and will also include an embedded Google map, which links to your Google+ Local account.
3) WordPress by Yoast
Yoast helps determine what your current SEO score is, and in tandem, lets you monitor the areas that require some improvement. Yoast will let you know if your keywords are missing from title and H1 tags, and looks at your content and metadata too. This tool is rumored to be the most-used WordPress SEO plugin, and for good reason. It assists in setting up XML sitemaps, helps you map out all title and description templates, and truly enables you to stay on top of all the SEO must-do’s. If you only have one SEO plugin, this should be it. It’s regularly updated too, which is a big bonus.
Top SEO-Friendly Image and Content Tools for Wordpress
1) SEO Friendly Images
This plugin does exactly what you’d expect – ensures all your images have alt attributes, title tags and all other relevant search engine data. There’s also a premium version that unlocks a myriad SEO features, like XML sitemap generators and custom settings.
2) SEO Content Control
If you’ve got a lot of content on your site, you need this tool to help you identify the weakest links. Options for SEO Content Control include viewing a list of all pages/posts that have lackluster (too short) text, missing meta data, and missing keywords.
Must-Have Analytics Plugins for Wordpress
1) SEO Rank Reporter
Rank Reporter is an awesome tool that allows you to monitor your Google ranking through your WordPress dashboard, and it’s updated every three days. This plugin will help you assess if and when more SEO improvements are needed. When your ranking slips, you can use the other tools to identify why this may have occurred, and then set out to address each one.
2) Google Analyticator
If you’re a fan of Google Analytics, download this plugin now and integrate the data directly into your WordPress dashboard. You’ll be able to view your top performing pages, referrers, and keywords, among many other invaluable metrics.
Top-Notch Social Plugins for Wordpress
1) Sociable
Sociable is a superior sharing plugin that is jam-packed with
customization options. It features an excellent default setup,
with the options to use all your own personal icons and images.
It’s super easy to connect to most WordPress themes, and makes
your social sites immediately accessible to your users.
2) Social Media Tabs
This one is a unique plugin that allows you to add a social media widget to your site in a tabbed format, showing data from your major social sites. It currently supports Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, YouTube, Flickr, and RSS.
You are now armed with a gaggle of excellent, functional and easy-to-use WordPress SEO tools. Go forth and enjoy your increased rankings!
Article by Tina Courtney-Brown in SPN
Top SEO Plugins for WordPress Sites
10 WordPress Plugins That Save Bloggers Time
1. WordPress.com Stats
Personally, I feel it is essential for bloggers to track the activity on their blogs. You can make use of a web analytics tool, but it takes sometime to navigate through all the reports. That is where a plugin will be handy. The WordPress.com Stats plugin is a big help in this regard. Instead of using another application, you can keep track of your blog’s stats directly from your WordPress dashboard.
2. WP-Polls
It is a well-known fact that people like to participate in polls. There are options available to you on the internet, but the WP-Polls plugin will allow you to create custom polls on your WordPress dashboard. You do not have to leave your account to log into another site to manage it. This is only if you want to make use of polls.
3. Sociable
This plugin automatically add links to your favorite social bookmarking sites on your posts, pages and in your RSS feed. You can choose from 99 different social bookmarking sites.
4. Akismet
It is very important to activate your Akismet plugin on your blog. It is a fact that blogs unfortunately get comments that are spam. This plugin checks your comments against the Akismet web service to see if they look like spam or not and lets you review the spam it catches under your blog’s “comments” admin screen. Your readers do not like to see spam comments. This can easily result in a decrease of your traffic. I cannot stress this enough, please make sure you are using a plugin like Akismet. This WordPress plugin will save you time.
5. Math Comment Spam
In the fast growing era of technology, it is unfortunately a fact that comment spam blocking plugins like Akismet will not always be enough to eliminate all spam comments. By using the Math Comment Spam plugin in conjunction with the Akismet plugin, you will be able to decrease spam comments. The Math Comment Spam plugin will ask readers a simple math problem such as 2 x 3 before they can comment. This is to make sure that it is a human comment.
6. Theme Tester
Editor’s Note: The Theme Tester plugin may not work with newer versions of WordPress. A good alternate plugin is Theme Test Drive which can be found at: http://wordpress.org/extend/
It sometimes happens that bloggers want to change the WordPress theme. You do not want your audience to see the changes until all is finished and ready. This is where the Theme Tester plugin is of great help. Your readers will see your existing design until all is set up and ready for publishing.
7. WP-Database Backup
I want you to read the following with attention! If your blog is important to you, do yourself a big favor and install the WP-Database Backup plugin. It is most crucial to have this plugin installed and set to back up your WordPress database. This plugin will save the data on your hard drive or it will be sent to you via email. The next important point I want to stress is the following: Please keep in mind that this plugin makes a backup of your database files only. Make sure to make a manual backup of your WordPress content folder from your hosting account.
8. Easytube
This plugin will help you to get a YouTube or Google video published on your blog. It easily makes embedding YouTube and Google videos into your post a snap. Easytube also includes a preview image of your YouTube videos in the RSS feed with a link to the video. If you want to make use of visual media, it is essential to install this plugin.
9. Auto Close Comments, Pingbacks and Trackbacks
To reduce spam on older posts, you can make use of this plugin. Older posts are targets for automated comment spam bots. After installing the plugin, set the timeframe to a date when you want to close comments on your posts.
10. Google Maps Plugin
Editor’s Note: The Google Maps plugin may not work with newer versions of WordPress. A good alternate plugin is the Comprehensive Google Map plugin which can be found at: http://wordpress.org/extend/
This plugin speaks for itself. If you want to make use of maps from Google to be part of your blog post, this plugin will assist you in the process of creating, inserting and customizing it. This WordPress plugin will definitely save you time.
I really hope these 10 WordPress plugins will save you time and make blogging a treat. Make use of them and enjoy your blogging!
Jan de Klerk is an internet marketing enthusiast. Want to learn more about blogging and the online home business? Did you find the tips in his post helpful? Claim his free report about blogging, available at http://www.jandeklerk.com . He likes to give honest, real and valuable information to help people become successful online. He specifically likes to help with blogging and the online home business niche. Jan’s articles are jam packed with real honest tips and techniques for the internet marketer.
Personally, I feel it is essential for bloggers to track the activity on their blogs. You can make use of a web analytics tool, but it takes sometime to navigate through all the reports. That is where a plugin will be handy. The WordPress.com Stats plugin is a big help in this regard. Instead of using another application, you can keep track of your blog’s stats directly from your WordPress dashboard.
2. WP-Polls
It is a well-known fact that people like to participate in polls. There are options available to you on the internet, but the WP-Polls plugin will allow you to create custom polls on your WordPress dashboard. You do not have to leave your account to log into another site to manage it. This is only if you want to make use of polls.
3. Sociable
This plugin automatically add links to your favorite social bookmarking sites on your posts, pages and in your RSS feed. You can choose from 99 different social bookmarking sites.
4. Akismet
It is very important to activate your Akismet plugin on your blog. It is a fact that blogs unfortunately get comments that are spam. This plugin checks your comments against the Akismet web service to see if they look like spam or not and lets you review the spam it catches under your blog’s “comments” admin screen. Your readers do not like to see spam comments. This can easily result in a decrease of your traffic. I cannot stress this enough, please make sure you are using a plugin like Akismet. This WordPress plugin will save you time.
5. Math Comment Spam
In the fast growing era of technology, it is unfortunately a fact that comment spam blocking plugins like Akismet will not always be enough to eliminate all spam comments. By using the Math Comment Spam plugin in conjunction with the Akismet plugin, you will be able to decrease spam comments. The Math Comment Spam plugin will ask readers a simple math problem such as 2 x 3 before they can comment. This is to make sure that it is a human comment.
6. Theme Tester
Editor’s Note: The Theme Tester plugin may not work with newer versions of WordPress. A good alternate plugin is Theme Test Drive which can be found at: http://wordpress.org/extend/
It sometimes happens that bloggers want to change the WordPress theme. You do not want your audience to see the changes until all is finished and ready. This is where the Theme Tester plugin is of great help. Your readers will see your existing design until all is set up and ready for publishing.
7. WP-Database Backup
I want you to read the following with attention! If your blog is important to you, do yourself a big favor and install the WP-Database Backup plugin. It is most crucial to have this plugin installed and set to back up your WordPress database. This plugin will save the data on your hard drive or it will be sent to you via email. The next important point I want to stress is the following: Please keep in mind that this plugin makes a backup of your database files only. Make sure to make a manual backup of your WordPress content folder from your hosting account.
8. Easytube
This plugin will help you to get a YouTube or Google video published on your blog. It easily makes embedding YouTube and Google videos into your post a snap. Easytube also includes a preview image of your YouTube videos in the RSS feed with a link to the video. If you want to make use of visual media, it is essential to install this plugin.
9. Auto Close Comments, Pingbacks and Trackbacks
To reduce spam on older posts, you can make use of this plugin. Older posts are targets for automated comment spam bots. After installing the plugin, set the timeframe to a date when you want to close comments on your posts.
10. Google Maps Plugin
Editor’s Note: The Google Maps plugin may not work with newer versions of WordPress. A good alternate plugin is the Comprehensive Google Map plugin which can be found at: http://wordpress.org/extend/
This plugin speaks for itself. If you want to make use of maps from Google to be part of your blog post, this plugin will assist you in the process of creating, inserting and customizing it. This WordPress plugin will definitely save you time.
I really hope these 10 WordPress plugins will save you time and make blogging a treat. Make use of them and enjoy your blogging!
Jan de Klerk is an internet marketing enthusiast. Want to learn more about blogging and the online home business? Did you find the tips in his post helpful? Claim his free report about blogging, available at http://www.jandeklerk.com . He likes to give honest, real and valuable information to help people become successful online. He specifically likes to help with blogging and the online home business niche. Jan’s articles are jam packed with real honest tips and techniques for the internet marketer.
Best Wordpress Plugins
Add Post Footer
By Freetime
This useful WordPress plugin automatically places an optional custom paragraph block (handy for affixing author bios, related links, or any number of other items) at the end of every post.
Akismet
By Automattic
Comment and trackback spam are an unfortunate price of website success. The more traffic you accumulate, the more likely you are to be inundated by fake comments. Automattic's Akismet checks comments and trackbacks against the Akismet Web service to see if they look like spam. If the comments and trackbacks are deemed bogus, they're automatically shuffled over to your WordPress installation's spam folder. Clicking Aksimet Stats (located in your Dashboard) shows a breakdown of your spam, missed spam, ham (Akismets term for real comments), and false positives (legit comments and trackbacks mistaken for spam by Akismet that you've since flagged as genuine).
All in One SEO Pack
Widely considered a WordPress essential, Michael Torbert's All in One SEO Pack should be one of the pillars in your search engine optimization efforts. With it, you can give your page an SEO-friendly title (which shows up at the top of a Web browser), homepage description (which appears beneath your URL when people search for it via Google or other engine), and keywords related to your topic. Warning: Be careful with your keyword density. If Google suspects that you're stuffing keyboards or using black-hat SEO techniques, your search engine placement may be penalized.
Cool Author Box
By Morten Rand-Hendriksen
The Cool Author Box plug-in adds author information to the bottom of a WordPress post or page. Not only does it display the author name, but it also showcases the author's Gravatar and a link to the author's website.
Dagon Design Site Map Generator
By Dagon Design
Dagon Design's useful plug-in generates a fully customizable sitemap that helps search engine spiders easily rifle through your content. Dagon's tool manages this through multilevel categories, pages, and permalinks support. The plug-in lets you choose which links to display, their order, comment counts, and post dates. In short, this is everything you need to create a highly searchable WordPress site for both people and search engines.
Disqus Comment System
By Disqus
The Disqus (pronounced "discuss") plug-in integrates with WordPress' native comment system to allow more interactive Web talk. It features threaded comments and replies, social media mentions, the ability for moderators to approve or reject comments via email, and a load of other useful tools.
JetPack
By WordPress.com
JetPack is an official WordPress.com plug-in that gives your self-hosted WordPress blog a truckload of extra features. The plug-in serves up visitor stats, social media sharing options, and After The Deadline, a grammar and spell checker.
SEO Friendly Images
By Vladimir Prelovac
SEO Friendly Images, designed by Vladimir Prelovac, is a WordPress optimization plug-in that updates your uploaded images with proper ALT and TITLE attributes. The ALT attribute is considered an important part of SEO as it provides an image description to search engines, and helps create a match when someone keys in a search query. The TITLE attribute plays lesser role; the text associated with this attribute appears when a visitor mouses over an image.
SEO Smart Links
By Vladimir Prelovac
Vladmir Prelovac's other must-have plug-in lets WordPress automatically link keywords and phrases in your posts and comments with corresponding posts, pages, categories and tags on your site. After installing the plug-in, you simply open its configuration option and enter the keywords you use the most often and the links that you'd like to associate to them. So, for example, if you want to link the word "cat" to "cat.com," the plug-in can do this automatically. SEO Smart Links lets you determine how frequently a single keyword or phrase is linked within a single post so that you don't end up with link overload.
Simple: Press
By Andy Staines and Steve Klasen
Want to add a forum to your WordPress setup? Simple Press lets you do just that. But don't think that it's not full-featured; you can customize the forum with skins, create sub-forums, grant user rankings based on post numbers, and more.
Thank Me Later
By Brendon Boshell
A little courtesy goes a long way. Thank Me Later automatically sends a customizable "thank you" email to people who have commented on your blog. The plug-in lets you set the time when the email is sent, create multiple messages, and tinker with restriction settings.
Ultimate Google Analytics
By Wilfred van der Deijl
Google Analytics is the favorite site-analytics tool of many webmasters due to its meticulously detailed graphs, charts, and traffic numbers—it's also free! Wilfred van der Deijl's Ultimate Google Analytics plug-in adds JavaScript to each page (without making any changes to your template) so that you can track outbound links, downloads from your own site, mailto: links, and more without requiring you to install the code manually. Simply sign into your Google Anaytics account to see your traffic data. The only downside? Google Analytics doesn't supply real-time traffic numbers.
Viper's Video Quicktags
By Viper007Bond
If you're tired of copying and pasting HTML into your site's backend when you want to embed video, this plug-in can simplify the process. After you install Viper007Bond's plug-in, icons representing your favorite online video respositories (YouTube, Vimeo, DailyMotion, and more) appear above the main content area. Clicking one of them lets you enter the video's URL and dimensions. Clicking "Okay" inserts the video (centered) into the blog. It's just that easy.
WordPress.com Popular Posts
By Frasten
This is one of the few plug-ins that actually requires the use of another plug-in—WordPress.com Stats. But once both are installed, Frasten's WordPress.com Popular Posts can work its magic by displaying your site's most popular posts and pages over the course of a user-selected number of days. You can exclude select posts and pages, show excerpts (when applicable), and select the number of posts to be shown.
WordPress Database Backup
By Austin Matzko
Consider this the ultimate WordPress safety net for when disaster strikes. This sanity-saver backs up all of your files to either your server, desktop, or inbox once you select the frequency (hourly, twice daily, once daily, or weekly). The speed with which your file is restored depends on the amount of content that's been backed up (it once took me two hours to restore my personal site, 2D-X after a mishap), but I was more than happy to wait, given the alternative. You shouldn't go without Matzko's excellent plug-in.
WP Greet Box
By Thaya Kareeson
Thaya Kareeson's plug-in is all about welcoming new visitors and building loyalty. It displays a user-defined greeting to fresh readers depending on the referrer URL. For example, when a Digg user clicks through from Digg, they might see a pop-up that asks them to digg your post. For new visitors who don't come from any matching URLs, you could set a message that suggests that they subscribe to your RSS feed.
W3 Total Cache
By W3 Edge
Protect your WordPress blog from sudden, huge traffic spikes, and pokey system performance with W3 Total Cache. This plug-in works by caching browser, page, and object data, as well as compressing databases. It also speeds load times by delivering fresh blog data only as needed.
WPTouch
By BraveNewCode
WPtouch automatically streamlines your WordPress blog for iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, Android, and other devices. Paying for the $39 WPTouch Premium gives supports iPhone Retina Display and ad monetization.
WPVN-Username Changer
By Minh-Quan Tran
The default username for a WordPress administrator is "admin," which gives potential hackers a head start, should they wish to misbehave. Using this plug-in improves your blog's security by changing the default "admin" administrator's name to something of your choosing. Now, you can sleep a little easier at night.
Google XML Sitemaps for Videos
By Digital Inspiration
Do you want to ensure that Bing, Google, and other search engines recognize and index your videos? Digital Inspiration's Google XML Sitemaps for Videos plugin does just that by generating a sitemap for your YouTube clips that have been embedded within blog posts.
By Freetime
This useful WordPress plugin automatically places an optional custom paragraph block (handy for affixing author bios, related links, or any number of other items) at the end of every post.
Akismet
By Automattic
Comment and trackback spam are an unfortunate price of website success. The more traffic you accumulate, the more likely you are to be inundated by fake comments. Automattic's Akismet checks comments and trackbacks against the Akismet Web service to see if they look like spam. If the comments and trackbacks are deemed bogus, they're automatically shuffled over to your WordPress installation's spam folder. Clicking Aksimet Stats (located in your Dashboard) shows a breakdown of your spam, missed spam, ham (Akismets term for real comments), and false positives (legit comments and trackbacks mistaken for spam by Akismet that you've since flagged as genuine).
All in One SEO Pack
Widely considered a WordPress essential, Michael Torbert's All in One SEO Pack should be one of the pillars in your search engine optimization efforts. With it, you can give your page an SEO-friendly title (which shows up at the top of a Web browser), homepage description (which appears beneath your URL when people search for it via Google or other engine), and keywords related to your topic. Warning: Be careful with your keyword density. If Google suspects that you're stuffing keyboards or using black-hat SEO techniques, your search engine placement may be penalized.
Cool Author Box
By Morten Rand-Hendriksen
The Cool Author Box plug-in adds author information to the bottom of a WordPress post or page. Not only does it display the author name, but it also showcases the author's Gravatar and a link to the author's website.
Dagon Design Site Map Generator
By Dagon Design
Dagon Design's useful plug-in generates a fully customizable sitemap that helps search engine spiders easily rifle through your content. Dagon's tool manages this through multilevel categories, pages, and permalinks support. The plug-in lets you choose which links to display, their order, comment counts, and post dates. In short, this is everything you need to create a highly searchable WordPress site for both people and search engines.
Disqus Comment System
By Disqus
The Disqus (pronounced "discuss") plug-in integrates with WordPress' native comment system to allow more interactive Web talk. It features threaded comments and replies, social media mentions, the ability for moderators to approve or reject comments via email, and a load of other useful tools.
JetPack
By WordPress.com
JetPack is an official WordPress.com plug-in that gives your self-hosted WordPress blog a truckload of extra features. The plug-in serves up visitor stats, social media sharing options, and After The Deadline, a grammar and spell checker.
SEO Friendly Images
By Vladimir Prelovac
SEO Friendly Images, designed by Vladimir Prelovac, is a WordPress optimization plug-in that updates your uploaded images with proper ALT and TITLE attributes. The ALT attribute is considered an important part of SEO as it provides an image description to search engines, and helps create a match when someone keys in a search query. The TITLE attribute plays lesser role; the text associated with this attribute appears when a visitor mouses over an image.
SEO Smart Links
By Vladimir Prelovac
Vladmir Prelovac's other must-have plug-in lets WordPress automatically link keywords and phrases in your posts and comments with corresponding posts, pages, categories and tags on your site. After installing the plug-in, you simply open its configuration option and enter the keywords you use the most often and the links that you'd like to associate to them. So, for example, if you want to link the word "cat" to "cat.com," the plug-in can do this automatically. SEO Smart Links lets you determine how frequently a single keyword or phrase is linked within a single post so that you don't end up with link overload.
Simple: Press
By Andy Staines and Steve Klasen
Want to add a forum to your WordPress setup? Simple Press lets you do just that. But don't think that it's not full-featured; you can customize the forum with skins, create sub-forums, grant user rankings based on post numbers, and more.
Thank Me Later
By Brendon Boshell
A little courtesy goes a long way. Thank Me Later automatically sends a customizable "thank you" email to people who have commented on your blog. The plug-in lets you set the time when the email is sent, create multiple messages, and tinker with restriction settings.
Ultimate Google Analytics
By Wilfred van der Deijl
Google Analytics is the favorite site-analytics tool of many webmasters due to its meticulously detailed graphs, charts, and traffic numbers—it's also free! Wilfred van der Deijl's Ultimate Google Analytics plug-in adds JavaScript to each page (without making any changes to your template) so that you can track outbound links, downloads from your own site, mailto: links, and more without requiring you to install the code manually. Simply sign into your Google Anaytics account to see your traffic data. The only downside? Google Analytics doesn't supply real-time traffic numbers.
Viper's Video Quicktags
By Viper007Bond
If you're tired of copying and pasting HTML into your site's backend when you want to embed video, this plug-in can simplify the process. After you install Viper007Bond's plug-in, icons representing your favorite online video respositories (YouTube, Vimeo, DailyMotion, and more) appear above the main content area. Clicking one of them lets you enter the video's URL and dimensions. Clicking "Okay" inserts the video (centered) into the blog. It's just that easy.
WordPress.com Popular Posts
By Frasten
This is one of the few plug-ins that actually requires the use of another plug-in—WordPress.com Stats. But once both are installed, Frasten's WordPress.com Popular Posts can work its magic by displaying your site's most popular posts and pages over the course of a user-selected number of days. You can exclude select posts and pages, show excerpts (when applicable), and select the number of posts to be shown.
WordPress Database Backup
By Austin Matzko
Consider this the ultimate WordPress safety net for when disaster strikes. This sanity-saver backs up all of your files to either your server, desktop, or inbox once you select the frequency (hourly, twice daily, once daily, or weekly). The speed with which your file is restored depends on the amount of content that's been backed up (it once took me two hours to restore my personal site, 2D-X after a mishap), but I was more than happy to wait, given the alternative. You shouldn't go without Matzko's excellent plug-in.
WP Greet Box
By Thaya Kareeson
Thaya Kareeson's plug-in is all about welcoming new visitors and building loyalty. It displays a user-defined greeting to fresh readers depending on the referrer URL. For example, when a Digg user clicks through from Digg, they might see a pop-up that asks them to digg your post. For new visitors who don't come from any matching URLs, you could set a message that suggests that they subscribe to your RSS feed.
W3 Total Cache
By W3 Edge
Protect your WordPress blog from sudden, huge traffic spikes, and pokey system performance with W3 Total Cache. This plug-in works by caching browser, page, and object data, as well as compressing databases. It also speeds load times by delivering fresh blog data only as needed.
WPTouch
By BraveNewCode
WPtouch automatically streamlines your WordPress blog for iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, Android, and other devices. Paying for the $39 WPTouch Premium gives supports iPhone Retina Display and ad monetization.
WPVN-Username Changer
By Minh-Quan Tran
The default username for a WordPress administrator is "admin," which gives potential hackers a head start, should they wish to misbehave. Using this plug-in improves your blog's security by changing the default "admin" administrator's name to something of your choosing. Now, you can sleep a little easier at night.
Google XML Sitemaps for Videos
By Digital Inspiration
Do you want to ensure that Bing, Google, and other search engines recognize and index your videos? Digital Inspiration's Google XML Sitemaps for Videos plugin does just that by generating a sitemap for your YouTube clips that have been embedded within blog posts.
WordPress Rich Media Plugins
Rich media is easy. Well, it takes some work, and there is some learning involved, but plugin developers have made it much easier to adorn our sites with the glitz and glamor of all things interactive. Play with some of them and see what they're capable of. You'll be amazed at how far this medium can take your site and how you'll be better able to serve your site visitors.
So what kinds of plugins are out there and what are they capable of? Let's find out, shall we?
1. All-In-One Video Pack
Available on the WordPress.org.
This is a fully-functioning video tool. You an import, upload, and record video right in the post. Video editing, mixing, thumbnails, video players, and other features that rival those found on YouTube can be added as well.
The whole thing installs pretty easily and sets up pretty quick. If you're going to get the most of this plugin, however, take some time to explore everything, read up on the features, and play with it. This is a fantastic option for those looking to try vlogging, artists, and those who currently use a number of different social networks for their videos.
2. WPaudio MP3 Player
Available for download from WordPress.org.
If you're a podcaster or blog about music, poetry readings, voice overs, or other audio, you need an audio plugin that's clean, stylish, and easy to use. Compatibility is often a huge problem when working in this format as well. The WPaudio MP3 Player plugin takes care of a lot of that.
Like the video plugin, this one is pretty quick to set up and doesn't seem to slow page loads down like many of the others available out there. I think the best features of this one are the controls themselves and its use of tags. It also works with HTML 5.
3. Smooth Slider
Available for download from WordPress.org, ClickOnF5, and you'll find a demo in the upper left hand side of the home page.
Neat features are not something WordPress is known for on its own. Even getting a basic set of columns and tables can be almost impossible, and often break more things than you have the patience to fix. The Smooth Slider Widget, however, seems to solve the problem.
Simple, fully customizable, and easy to use, you don't have to know how to code to use it. It supports custom post types, pages, and media, pure images or image/text combinations. You can use your own text and even replace the number system. Definitely worth a try if you're looking to add special features or update your site's style.
4. Apture
Available from Apture (Warning: Direct Download). See Apture in action at The Economist (highlight a term) and check out the links on the Apture home page.
Apture is all about search, and I have to admit, they do it well. Once installed:
Links are given a popout to their respective pages
Media is a snap to upload and imbed
Search for terms
You'll find it's easier for you to serve up the added content, without having visitors leave your site. They'll be able to explore all they like, and can even search farther within the Apture window. I had this on my own blog for quite some time and really enjoyed it.
5. Lightbox Plus
Download from WordPress.org, and you can see a demo of the plugin at 23Systems as well.
If you use images to help explain a point, or like to feature images, but find you need a thumbnail and the ability to call up a larger image for a closer look, this is your plugin. It's light, simple, and basic.
6. Fancy Box
An alternative is Fancybox. Similar in concept, this one is fully customizable, allows you to customize the various features, and is applied automatically. you can download it from Wordpress.org and see it in action on Moskis. I've tried numerous ones (am currently testing another), and liked this one the best so far. Others easily became too complicated or lacked the basic functionality.
7. Incorporating Social Media
There are a ton of plugins available for the various sites, many of them work on a post by post basis and communicate back to the network. Unfortunately, there are just too many varieties to cover. My suggestion is to make a list of the features you want, have a look around, and try a few out.
8. Twitter Goodies
Available from WordPress.org, Twitter Goodies gives you a tweet button, search widget, and a profile widget. Quick, simple & clean
9. Simple Facebook Connect
No matter what you want to do with Facebook connect, this easy set of plugins will help you do it. There's no need to be a coding wiz, either. Great for DIY-ers. You'll find it on WordPress.org
10. Embed Facebook
Why waste your time posting the same thing twice, when you can post it on Facebook and embed it anywhere on your site you'd like? That's what the Embed Facebook plugin does.
11. Social Bookmarking RELOADED
Why restrict your readers to only one or two social networks when you can let them share and save on whichever site they'd like? This one is neat and pretty comprehensive. Offered on WordPress.org.
12. Niche Specific Plugins
If you're in a particular niche, why not use that to your advantage and offer something a little bit different that your visitors could actually use? Here are a few interesting ones:
13. Real Estate Finder
Visitors can search the US, Canada, Australia and the UK for property. Download it from Wordpress.org. You can also find a Mortgage Loan Calculator plugin they might find helpful.
14. WP Flash Clock
If you give away hourly deals or otherwise use time in your marketing or niche, this could be an interesting one for you. You might even want to incorporate it right into your theme. You can find it here.
15. Protein Shake Recipe Calculator
Making protein shakes is a big thing for dieters and fitness nuts. Make it easy for them to figure out how many calories they're consuming so they can stay on top of things. Available in a widget.
16. Foursquare Latest Check in
I realize this probably should have gone in the social section, but to be honest, I thought this would be so great for a personal travel website, local review site, or even for marketing (traveling mascot), I had to move it to this section. Displays the latest check in for a user. Get it on WordPress.org.
Have you used any rich media plugins? Which ones did you like the best?
So what kinds of plugins are out there and what are they capable of? Let's find out, shall we?
1. All-In-One Video Pack
Available on the WordPress.org.
This is a fully-functioning video tool. You an import, upload, and record video right in the post. Video editing, mixing, thumbnails, video players, and other features that rival those found on YouTube can be added as well.
The whole thing installs pretty easily and sets up pretty quick. If you're going to get the most of this plugin, however, take some time to explore everything, read up on the features, and play with it. This is a fantastic option for those looking to try vlogging, artists, and those who currently use a number of different social networks for their videos.
2. WPaudio MP3 Player
Available for download from WordPress.org.
If you're a podcaster or blog about music, poetry readings, voice overs, or other audio, you need an audio plugin that's clean, stylish, and easy to use. Compatibility is often a huge problem when working in this format as well. The WPaudio MP3 Player plugin takes care of a lot of that.
Like the video plugin, this one is pretty quick to set up and doesn't seem to slow page loads down like many of the others available out there. I think the best features of this one are the controls themselves and its use of tags. It also works with HTML 5.
3. Smooth Slider
Available for download from WordPress.org, ClickOnF5, and you'll find a demo in the upper left hand side of the home page.
Neat features are not something WordPress is known for on its own. Even getting a basic set of columns and tables can be almost impossible, and often break more things than you have the patience to fix. The Smooth Slider Widget, however, seems to solve the problem.
Simple, fully customizable, and easy to use, you don't have to know how to code to use it. It supports custom post types, pages, and media, pure images or image/text combinations. You can use your own text and even replace the number system. Definitely worth a try if you're looking to add special features or update your site's style.
4. Apture
Available from Apture (Warning: Direct Download). See Apture in action at The Economist (highlight a term) and check out the links on the Apture home page.
Apture is all about search, and I have to admit, they do it well. Once installed:
Links are given a popout to their respective pages
Media is a snap to upload and imbed
Search for terms
You'll find it's easier for you to serve up the added content, without having visitors leave your site. They'll be able to explore all they like, and can even search farther within the Apture window. I had this on my own blog for quite some time and really enjoyed it.
5. Lightbox Plus
Download from WordPress.org, and you can see a demo of the plugin at 23Systems as well.
If you use images to help explain a point, or like to feature images, but find you need a thumbnail and the ability to call up a larger image for a closer look, this is your plugin. It's light, simple, and basic.
6. Fancy Box
An alternative is Fancybox. Similar in concept, this one is fully customizable, allows you to customize the various features, and is applied automatically. you can download it from Wordpress.org and see it in action on Moskis. I've tried numerous ones (am currently testing another), and liked this one the best so far. Others easily became too complicated or lacked the basic functionality.
7. Incorporating Social Media
There are a ton of plugins available for the various sites, many of them work on a post by post basis and communicate back to the network. Unfortunately, there are just too many varieties to cover. My suggestion is to make a list of the features you want, have a look around, and try a few out.
8. Twitter Goodies
Available from WordPress.org, Twitter Goodies gives you a tweet button, search widget, and a profile widget. Quick, simple & clean
9. Simple Facebook Connect
No matter what you want to do with Facebook connect, this easy set of plugins will help you do it. There's no need to be a coding wiz, either. Great for DIY-ers. You'll find it on WordPress.org
10. Embed Facebook
Why waste your time posting the same thing twice, when you can post it on Facebook and embed it anywhere on your site you'd like? That's what the Embed Facebook plugin does.
11. Social Bookmarking RELOADED
Why restrict your readers to only one or two social networks when you can let them share and save on whichever site they'd like? This one is neat and pretty comprehensive. Offered on WordPress.org.
12. Niche Specific Plugins
If you're in a particular niche, why not use that to your advantage and offer something a little bit different that your visitors could actually use? Here are a few interesting ones:
13. Real Estate Finder
Visitors can search the US, Canada, Australia and the UK for property. Download it from Wordpress.org. You can also find a Mortgage Loan Calculator plugin they might find helpful.
14. WP Flash Clock
If you give away hourly deals or otherwise use time in your marketing or niche, this could be an interesting one for you. You might even want to incorporate it right into your theme. You can find it here.
15. Protein Shake Recipe Calculator
Making protein shakes is a big thing for dieters and fitness nuts. Make it easy for them to figure out how many calories they're consuming so they can stay on top of things. Available in a widget.
16. Foursquare Latest Check in
I realize this probably should have gone in the social section, but to be honest, I thought this would be so great for a personal travel website, local review site, or even for marketing (traveling mascot), I had to move it to this section. Displays the latest check in for a user. Get it on WordPress.org.
Have you used any rich media plugins? Which ones did you like the best?
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