Must Have WordPress Plug-ins

Posted on 17. Feb, 2010 by Pete Hollier in Wordpress

For those who know me it is a well known fact that I am a great fan of WordPress, and with some thought and ingenuity the WordPress platform can be utilized for the development of entire web sites. WordPress can be so much more than a Blogging platform, the entire SeoWizardry web site is built on WordPress. I used Woothemes for some added functionality, and two WordPress installations to pull the whole thing together seamlessly.

One of the strong points of WordPress is the abundance of WordPress Plug-ins, which are available for just about every application you can conceive and probably a few more. Everyone has their favorites, and I of course have some that I feel come under the must have category, some of which I’m going to tell you about here today. Please note links to plug-in sites open in a new tab or browser window.

My Must Have WordPress Plug-ins

1. Headspace2 SEO and All in One SEO

Of course being involved in Search Engine Optimization my most prized Plug-in would be a SEO Plug-in. I’m not sure if I have tried them all but over time I have checked out quite a few of them. I am quite fond of All In One SEO which makes some of the basic on page tasks simple for most WordPress users. However, not long ago while tinkering I came across Headspace2 SEO which has a couple of features I like such as, the plug-in management features and the noindex / nofollow META tag editing.

2. Contact Form 7

A web site without a Contact Form is next to useless, if your current and potential clients and customers find it difficult to contact you it is a given that your business will suffer. Contact Form 7 makes creating and adding forms to your web site a breeze and of course the most important part, getting that form information to your in box is all handled quickly and easily by Contact Form 7. If you have some basic HTML skills or some basic web site editing software you can easily customize all forms to create a web form that meets most business requirements.

3. Really Simple CAPTCHA

If you’re sick and tired of Form Spammers hitting on your online forms then Really Simple CAPTCHA is the plug-in you are looking for. This plug-in interfaces with Contact Form 7. I spent quite some time trying out various forms and CAPTCHA plug-ins and find this duo is by far the best solution I have found. It has virtually eliminated all the Form Spam I had been receiving in the past.

4. Google XML Site maps

XML Site Maps are an absolute must if you really want to assist the Search Engines understand what is available on your web site. Google XML Sitemaps does a great job in creating site maps and updates them whenever you add a new page or post to your site. Google XML Site maps does a pretty good job but it does pay to edit the site maps produced to ensure pages and posts are prioritized correctly. It is also a good idea to submit your site map to Google using Google Web Master.

5. Subscribe2

A Blog is all about connecting with your readers and creating a long lasting relationship. Subscribe2 is a terrific plug-in enabling you to do a couple of important Blog tasks. The first is Subscribe 2 enables you to put in a simple Subscribe Now Form in your Blog Posts and side bars as required. The second feature of this Plug-in is to automatically notify your subscribers with a short email informing them that a new Blog Post has been posted. This is a great plug-in for developing a loyal following.

6. Sociable

No Blog is complete without a Social Bookmarking plug-in. Social Bookmarks are a terrific way to build back links to your web site, and since building links is a time consuming and often frustrating task, anything that assists you to build links is well worth while. Sociable puts a Social Book Marking widget at the bottom of each post. The selection of book marking sites available using this plug-in are almost limitless, offering plenty of potential for adding back links to your Blog.

7. TweetMeme Retweet Button

With the recent implementation of Social Search by the Search Engine Algothrim having your Blog Posts Tweeted can have a positive impact on the visibility your Blog obtains in the Search Engine Results Pages. Tweetmeme is a great plug-in making it very easy to Retweet a Blog Posts to spread the word of a Blog Post you have enjoyed. So how about it! Scroll to the top of this post and please Tweetmeme.

8 Facebook Share

Facebook is the 2nd most popular web site on the Web and therefore, possibly even more important than Twitter when it comes to spreading the word in the Social environment and to achieve this Facebook Share is the right Plug-in for the job. I’ve not used this plug-in for very long at all, I have reviewed numerous Facebook plug-ins in the past and did not find one I was prepared to use until I discovered this one which so far is highly recommended to assist you to improve your Blog’s visibility using the Social Search criteria.

9. Arkayne

Do I ever like the Arkayne plug-in! This plug-in searches your Blog for relevant content for each and every Blog Post and provides a list of additional Blog Posts which will interest readers who are reading the current post, Arkayne greatly increases the time visitors spend on your site, plus you get all those extra page views. There is also a Social Networking community attached to this plug-in which has the potential to drive additional traffic to your site. And it works. I have seen the results in my Blog’s analytics, I do get significant traffic from the Arkayne network. This plug-in is a winner.

10. WP-Cumulus

Ok up till now all the plug-ins mentioned have had tangible benefits, but hey there is a kid in all of us and the WP-Cumulus plug-in is just a bit of added glitter to the site, but I could not resist. If you’re tired of the same old tag clouds then this plug-in is for you. It puts your tags and categories into a nice Flash movie which revolves and does other cool stuff when moused over. Check it out on the top of the side bar, yes I know not necessary but …. I like it.

The Last Word

Like I said earlier I love WordPress and all the plug-ins listed here are in use on this site. And when I look at my plug-in list there are a couple others but this list about covers all the really good ones that I just don’t want to be without.

How about a few comments, I am always interested in learning about new WordPress Plug-ins and would like to hear all about your favorites. Oh and please do Tweetmeme and Facebookme. I hope you enjoyed this Blog Post as much as I enjoyed writing it. Happy Blogging!

Want to use this content on your web site?

If you would like to use this article on your web site please contact pete@seowizardry.ca for an html version. All I request is you provide Pete Hollier and Seo Wizardry with a reference to this article and provide a link back to www.seowizardry.ca