Many people ask the question; “What are the best wordpress plugins to use in my blog?”
Of course, there’s a HUGE choice of plugins out there designed to perform just about any conceivable task on your blog. Which ones you install is entirely up to you. However, there is a small group of plugins that I recommend as the best wordpress plugins necessary for every blog.
Best wordpress plugins
- All in one SEO pack
- Google Analytics for WordPress
- Analytics 360
- Sociable social bookmarking plugin
- Botproof captcha
- WP-Ban
Okay, dealing with these one at a time.
All in one SEO pack
The all-in-one-SEO plugin allows you to add meta titles, tags/keywords and descriptions to individual posts which helps search engines to understand what your website is about. This plugin is available through the wordpress plugin section of your dashboard in wordpress versions 2.7+ or from All-in-one-SEO-pack
Google analytics for WordPress
The Google analytics for WordPress plugin would have to supply the absolute simplest way to install google analytics into your blog. If you have an analytics account simply add a profile for your blog, copy the UA string from the overview page of your analytics account and enter that string into the settings page of the plugin. Done. All you have to do then is update the status in the profile so google knows that the code is installed. Once again, this plugin can be installed directly through your dashboard if you have wordpress version 2.7 up. Alternatively, you can download the plugin from Yoast.com
Analytics 360
Analytics 360 supplies a snapshot of your google analytics stats directly in your blog dashboard. The full range of stats isnt’ available, just visit numbers, referring sites and popular pages. But it does include a link that will take you to your analytics account if you want to see the full range of statistics. Additionally, if you have a mailchimp autoresponder account you will be able to see the effect of your email campaigns on blog traffic. The Analytics 360 plugin is available from Mailchimp or directly through the ‘add plugin feature available in your wordpress dashboard.
Sociable Social bookmarking plugin
See the social bookmarking icons at the bottom of this post? These are part of the sociable social bookmarking plugin which boasts a staggering 95 available bookmarking services to choose from. The plugin is available from Yoast.com. Please note that I have edited the plugin to make the icons larger and added different icons. To see how that was acheived visit Best WordPress Plugins: Sociable Social Bookmarking Plugin.
Botproof Captcha
These days, a majority of blog comments are posted automatically by computer programs known as ‘Bots’. The botproof capcha plugin foils automated commenting by displaying a dynamic, constantly changing image that bots are unable to decipher. This free plugin effectively stymies those programs and protects your blog from the majority of spammy comments. When I first created this blog I was receiving about 10 spam comments per day. After installation of the Botproof Captcha plugin that figure dropped to about one comment every two days. The Botproof Captcha plugin is available from http://www.botproof.com/wordpress.html
WP-Ban
This last wordpress plugin once again has to do with blog security and killing comment spam. If you install the botproof captcha plugin it will stop automated comments. Unfortunately you will still receive human visitors who leave off-topic comments and comments filled with spam links. They will sometimes leave exactly the same comment on several posts and will return on a daily basis to leave more comments. These are what I refer to as ‘nuisance commenters’. To help combat against these types of comments I installed the WP-Ban plugin. This plugin allows you to block access to your blog from IP addresses and hosts that have a history of comment spam on your blog. You can edit the page that spammers are forwarded to. Visit ban-preview.php to see the ban page I created for this blog. This plugin is available from LesterChan or directly through through the ‘add plugin’ utility available in your wordpress dashboard in versions 2.7+.
So there you have it… My list of the best wordpress plugins available for your blog.
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