Must Have Wordpress Plugins
I have installed, configured, designed, tweeked and managed many Wordpress blogs/sites. I have learned the very best of plethora of Wordpress Plugins. The plugins that I recommened should be used for every Wordpress blog, from the most basic of blogs to the most complex of blogs. These plugins should come standard with any Wordpress intall as they are, in my opinion, essential to any blog. Now, without further ado, here is my list of must have Wordpress Plugins:
All in One SEO Pack
If you want to generate traffic through organic search result, this is a “Must Have”. This plugin inserts a menu under the Rich Text Editor that allow you to enter text for the Page Title, Meta Description and Meta Keywords. Once entered, the plugin automatically inserts this content into your post or page.
Viper’s Video Quicktags
If content is king, then video content has to be queen. We love our viral videos and we love them anywhere we can see them: YouTube, Google Video, Vimeo….the list goes on and on. Instead of linking to a video on the hosting site, why not embed the video in your blog? Sounds easy right, but then there is formatting issues, dimension sizes and so forth. This plugin makes it simple to embed video from just about every video site. The approriate video site logo is in the Rich Text Editor menu, once clicked, you simply paste the URL in and the plugin does the rest!
Google Sitemap Generator
It is a best practice to submit a sitemap of your site to Google Webmaster Tools. The sitemap is an xml document that is housed at the root of your site and should be continuously updated as you add content to your site. This plugin creates, updates and submits your xml to google as well as other search engines.
cForms II
This is by far the best, easiest and most comprehensive form plugin developed. There are numerous settings and configurations to make this plugin work for you. I use this plugin mostly for my contact form, but it can be used to create just about any form.
MobilePress
With mobile phones serving a legitimate amount of traffic, it is important that your Wordpress site render on mobile phones. This plugin creates a mobile version of your site. This plugin also allows you to choose which mobile devices you want to present the mobile version and which to present the regular version. The iPhone, for example, can render the regular version of the site.
Sexy Bookmarks
In this day and age, you need to give readers a way to share your content. This plugin allows you to put icons for numerous social sites at the bottom of each page and/or post. Take a look below! I am using just a few that are available.
Dunstan-style Error Page
Many Wordpress themes have their own custom 404 page . These aren’t always the best error handlers. This plugin gives the user a great custom 404 page that allows them to go to the homepage, read previous posts and/or contact you. There is also a quick feedback feature which the visitor can click on and it sends you an email letting you know that someone has received an error page.
jQuery Lightbox
There are thousands of plugins to handle images. This is one that I like because it is lightweight and very simple to use.
