Things That I Know

When using WordPress to power your blog, you should be fully aware of the power that this open-source software has. Not only is WordPress simple to use in it’s purest form, but the addition of new themes and plugins can let you customize your site with little or no technical skills.

Themes are something that you should pick on your own, finding something that fits what your idea of your site is. I won’t recommend themes, because what I like may not be what you like, so look around and experiment with them on your own.

As for plugins, there are some that are essential. I have well over a dozen plugins running on each of my WordPress based sites, and I find them all to be essential. But I have found that there are four that every WordPress user should have set up on their site.

**All of these plugins are compatible with WordPress 2.3

1. All in One SEO Pack - Plugin to optimize your blog for search engines by adding the ability to give each post a title, description, and keywords right from the WRITE page on your blog. There are many customizable options, such as re-writing titles for SEO optimization, as well as handling META information for the entire blog, not just individual posts. If ranking in search engines means anything to your site, this plugin is essential.
2. Google (XML) Sitemaps Generator - From the plugin site: “This plugin generates a XML-Sitemap compliant sitemap of your WordPress blog. This format is supported by Ask.com, Google, YAHOO and MSN Search.”This plugin takes care of all of the work for you, from creating a sitemap, to sending it to the appropriate sites for their use. Again, if ranking in the search engines means anything to you, those engines need a valid sitemap.
3. WordPress.com Stats - While there are probably hundreds of stats plugins or tools for your WordPress blog, I find this to be the most basic and easiest to use. I still use other stat tools, but I check this one first (right from my dashboard), and use my other stat tools for specifics. This is a WordPress.com tool, and an API Key is needed.
4. WordPress Database Backup - If you’ve ever tried to backup your database, you know it can be a pain. This tool saves you all of that hassle. Simple activate the plugin, and you can handle database backups right from your WordPress site. Not only that, you can have scheduled backups done, and have them emailed right to you. So every day, or once a week, or whenever you need it, you can have a backup of your entire database emailed directly to you with no hassle on your end.

While I consider all of those essential, here are a few more you might like and I recommend.

• Simple Tags - Tagging plugin to allow you to use your tags in a variety of ways. Options from setting up tags after posts, to tag clouds, to related posts. Not only that, but it also allows you to edit tags. You can edit individual tags, or mass edit the tags on many posts. It makes transitioning to tags much easier.
• Social Bookmarking RELOADED - If you want to have those handy links on your page to allow users to submit your content to their favorite bookmarking site, this is the tool for you. Yes, you can just go to Digg.com and download their button if that’s all you want, but if you want a variety of sites, this is a handy tool to put them all in one neat place. (On this site this plugin is only seen on individual posts, not the main page.)
• FeedBurner FeedSmith - If you track data with FeedBurner, get this plugin.
• Dean’s Permalinks Migration - If you ever change your permalink structure, this is an essential plugin.

There are many more great plugins out there, some I use (or used), and some that just aren’t for me. My advice is to check out WordPress’s plugin directory often, and see if anything catches your eye. Don’t be afraid to try new plugins, you can always just take them off.

Tags: Blogging, Plugins, WordPress

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