The Rich Sage explores 11 WordPress Plugins that make life better for you as a Blogger.

WordPress is the next best thing to having a computer in the first place. Without WordPress life would not be so much fun. It would be one pitfall after another. As a Content Management System (CMS), it allows me to focus on the details of posts –to make the best website or blog that my work can be. What would I do without it? Well, the Rich Sage would not be able to manage any of the functions from broadcasting the updates to the Rich Sage’s wisdom to managing the comments made by visitors.

All the work is handled by a plug-in that makes life beautiful!

This is my top 11 list of WordPress Plug-ins that can make your life a much better:

All-in-One SEO Pack >> Among other things, the All-in-One SEO pack can automatically optimize your titles for search engines, generates META tags automatically, and avoid the typical duplicate content found on Wordpress blogs. The latest release works right out of the box with defaults ready to go. It does allow you to override any of the settings as well. Download >>

Google SiteMap Generator >> This I think is a top-three in plug-ins that we need. The sitemap generator notifies Google, MSN and Yahoo (and a few others) that a site was updated and also creates an xML file that the search engines can capture for data. This setup greatly enhances the traffic volume that comes to your site from searches. Anything done to please Google, Yahoo and MSN to help them better deliver traffic to your online passion is a BONUS! Download >>

Akismet >> This is a must have plug-in for any serious blog. It will block 90% of the spam automatically, leaving you free to manage and answer the comments that are made by real humans. Once the plug-in is activated, the user has to go to Akismet to get an API key, which takes minutes. And installs in seconds via the WordPress admin. Once installed, the key is good for every WordPress installation that you have. Download >>

Vipers Video Plug-in: >> This is fairly a new one, but what is does is essential to handling video display on a blog. Install the plug-in to display everything from YouTube to Camtasia video files. Rich Sage posts about one or two videos a week, and I use this plug-in to manage it. This is a must install if you are running any type of “How To” type of blog. To display video all you need to do is input the URL of the video and optionally set the size –then publish and the video shows up! Download >>

Share This: >> It’s all about content management and publishing. If you didn’t do that, nobody would know who you were or what you did. This plug-in helps your readers to bookmark the post quickly using any one of the content sites. There are two new features that allow sharing with friends in any of the Web2.0 supported networks. Additionally, a feature I have not tested, is called the Sharebox. My understanding is that this is a new way to bookmark everything and retrieve the links at anytime using the plug-in. This is a must have plug-in to help share content with readers. Download >>

FeedBurner Feed Smith >> When I first started the blog I was surprised at how many visitors I was getting from the RSS (Real Simple Syndication) Feeds that are updated with the blog. The entire process is handled by Feedburner –it’s all automated and easy to work with. Actually, once setup, there’s no work. Just update the blog and Feedburner does the rest to update RSS Feeds to the world. They also have a new subscribe feature for updates via email. I have not used that yet, but that’s a feature you should look into. It will be part of my site on the next update. SetUp >>

NEXT GEN Gallery >> Displaying pictures is essential for any blog. Next Gen Gallery does this in a rather elegant manner. Just view any of my images via the “Gallery” tab above and you’ll see Next Gen Gallery in action. It’s perfect for managing a photo collection and to display thumbnails. If you display full size pictures, it will not only slow your site down, but it’s a waste of bandwidth. With the NEXT Gen Gallery you can just display thumbnails. Keep in mind that my installation also takes advantage of WP LightBox, which I discuss below. Download >>

WP LightBox >> While Next Gen Gallery handles the management of the pictures, the LightBox will handle the display of the pictures. Once you click on a thumbnail, it opens up the picture and darkens the outside so that the picture is the focus. Just see my “Gallery” tab above. Download >>

WP Directory >> This is the plug-in that I am using to list the items in my “Marketplace”. Using it I can easily mange a directory of any type. I can add images, make outgoing links and enable guests to add links. All of these features are handled by WP Directory. It can be used for a market place or a local directory of business to organizations, without getting any special software. Very powerful! Download >>

Related Posts >> This plug-in automatically lists the related posts at the bottom of my updates. I have installed this and will display the related posts with my next site update. Doing so also helps the position of the pay-per-click ads as it gives an opportunity for readers to scan the ads. Download >>

Permalink Redirect Plug-in >> One of the little nasty outcomes of moving content is that a “Page Not Found” error will be displayed on any page linked by someone. This plug-in helps resolve that with a redirection to the new page. This is vital for SEO work and to make sure that your pages are not getting lost in the cyberspace. Download >>

ONE LAST NOTE

Make sure to use the share this plug in to book mark this post. I’ll also update these plug-ins from time to time because I use all of them for my traffic building success. One last tip, before I let you go… Keep in mind that you’ll need to back up the data on your WordPress installation from time to time. When you do that, make sure to first “deactivate” each of the plug-ins. Then back up the database fully using a tool such as PhpMyAdmin which runs in your hosting admin (hosting >> Databases >> My SQL >> PhpMyADMIN), to make a full back ups. Then return to the WordPress admin to “re-activate” the plug-ins. Don’t forget that last step!

I’ll follow up on this post soon with a little known list of plug-ins that give you an unfair advantage building online success!

Success,
Rich Sage