Three months ago, I posted a list of my favorite WordPress widgets and plugins. Since then, I’ve restructured several blogs and changed my mind about some things, so I thought it might be a good idea to revisit this topic and give a similar list that may not coincide exactly with the first. The first section below is a list of a dozen absolutely essential plugins that I would advise anyone to automatically install with a new blog. The second section is a list of eight plugins that I have installed on some of my blogs, but not on others. For me, these are important in some circumstances, but not necessarily essential for everyone. On to the lists…

12 Essential WordPress Plugins

1. Akismet (comes with WordPress, so no need to download). Simply activate once you have obtained a free Wordpress.com API key. This one kills comment spam. ‘Nuff said.
2. Chunk URLs for WordPress - This plugin shorten urls in comments so that they won’t break your site. When people post long urls in comments, it can destroy the theme layout. This plugin eliminates that problem.
3. FeatureMe - FeatureMe allows you to manage a featured entries list for your blog. It’s pretty important to highlight your best posts, in order to grab the drive-by readers attention, and keep them coming back for more. FeatureMe makes it easy to do so.
4. Head META Description - Lets you insert the HTML META description tag: excerpt/content brief for post/Page, description for category, and blog tagline for everything else. This can be a crucial way to convince search engines that each page is unique. This also gives search engines a nice, controlled snippet to display on their search results pages.
5. MyAvatars - Lets you add MyBlogLog.com avatars to Wordpress comments. I’m a big, big fan of MyBlogLog because it gives a real sense of community to a blog. Seeing people’s faces (or avatars) affects the emotions in some way, and people feel a connection that wouldn’t be there otherwise. MyAvatars takes that one step further by showing the MyBlogLog avatar next to a person’s comments. This, I believe, gives even more credibility to the commenter, and encourages people to comment more often.
6. SimpleTags - Allows you to create a list of Technorati tags at the bottom of your post by providing a comma separated list of tags between the [tags] tags. The reason I like this? It gives you a legitimate way to get a few nice keyword phrases in your post, linking out to an authority source.
7. WordPress Mobile Edition - Show a mobile view of the post/page if the visitor is on a known mobile device. Mobile is the future, so be prepared for it now. Don’t let anything stop your users from visiting your site. If they want to view it via a tiny 2-inch screen, make it easy for them to do so!
8. WP-Cache - For those Digg effect occasions. There’s nothing worse than having a post go popular on a social media site such as Digg, only to watch as your server crashes and burns under the heavy load. WP-Cache will take that extreme stress right off your shoulders, and let your server buzz along with nary a problem.
9. WPvideo - Lets you easily insert online videos in your post by providing the video url between the
10. Enforce www. Preference - Provides 301 redirects to queries with /index.php and enforces your use or non-use of www. Rather than mucking around with .htaccess files, just use this plugin. No mess, no hassle.
11. Sociable - Automatically add links on your posts to popular social bookmarking sites. Blogs and social sites go hand in hand. Lots of people will tell you that no one uses those little social bookmarking icons, so you shouldn’t use them. I say “pooh-pooh” to that. If even one reader would share your site because you made it easy for them to do so, then it is worth it to give them that ability.
12. SEO Title Tag - I don’t actually use this one, because I optimize my titles right in my themes, but everyone else should use this, so they don’t have to muck with the themes code. For SEO purposes, you absolutely must optimize your titles. It could mean a huge difference in traffic, so just do it.

8 Optional But Sometimes Very Useful WordPress Plugins:

1. aLinks - Automatically links keywords in your blog post. This is especially useful if you routinely link out to the same places. Can also be great for making sure your affiliate links get associated with certain words.
2. Awsom News Announcement - Allows you to post a news announcement in the area above your posts (or anywhere else you want). This is especially helpful for things like contests, or time-limited activities. You can keep these announcements front and center to make sure people don’t forget about them.
3. Code Auto Escape - Automatically escape code within … tags. Now and then, you may need to give an example of some HTML code, but you want users to be able to actually see the code, and not the rendered results. Wrapping them in these code tags will enable you to do that.
4. Subscribe To Comments - Allows readers to receive notifications of new comments that are posted to an entry. If some of your posts get some really great conversations going, your readers might want to make sure they don’t miss any of the action. This plugin lets them get updates as comments are posted.
5. Add Sig - Add a custom signature to the bottom of posts. We all know the importance of using a signature in our emails and forum posts, don’t we? (Hint: It’s a great way to advertise your site). So, why not do a similar thing at the bottom of your posts? Obviously, you may not need to advertise your url because the reader already knows about it, but there are lots of other things you can do with this. Thank them. Suggest they subscribe to your feed. Encourage them to participate by commenting. Let them know about products or features they might be interested in. The possibilities are limitless. The point is…grab them while they are already engaged.
6. Adsense-Deluxe - Place Google AdSense ads in your WordPress Posts. What else is there to say?
7. diggIT - Automatically have the dynamic Digg button show up for each post. If your post gets dugg, having a Digg button showing the number of diggs only encourages more people to click the button too. Popularity begets more popularity.
8. Link Indication - Add icons to outgoing links to indicate what type of link it is. Frankly, I use this just because it gives a touch of professionalism to a site. However, in some parts of the world, it may be (or soon will be) the law that outgoing links must be noted in some way.

That’s it. Of course, there are a few kajillion possible plugins that might be essential or optionally useful for your particular blog, but the above represent those that I think everyone should seriously consider.

(from Smash Mouth. "AllStar" Astro Lounge. Interscope Records, 1999.)

Posted on August 1st, 2007 by DazzlinDonna
Filed under: WordPress