WordPress Plug-Ins: The Bare Essentials


By Jane Friedman

31 Replies

This past weekend, I was a presenter at PodCamp Cincinnati. Many talented people in social media attended from the region, so I learned quite a few things myself. My favorite session was by Daniel J. Lewis, the event organizer, who gave a snappy session on essential WordPress plug-ins. I’m going to share a few recommendations from his session, as well as add a few of my own.

Must-have

  • Akismet. It should be installed for you, so don’t remove it. It blocks spam. If you don’t have it, add it.

Comment system

  • The WordPress default comment system isn’t bad, but you can do better. I currently use Disqus; after hearing Lewis’s presentation, I’m considering a switch to Intense Debate.

Social sharing

  • Social sharing plug-ins make it easy for people to tweet, “like,” or otherwise share your post on their preferred social network. I currently use AddThis, but after Lewis’s presentation, I may switch to ShareBar, which has more dynamic functionality.

Site speed

Mobile-friendly

  • According to Google Analytics, about 50% of my traffic comes from iPhone users. That means the site needs to be mobile friendly. WP Touch automates this. Once installed, it just works. Love.

Broken link checker

  • When links break on your site, it’s nice to know right away. I use Broken Link Checker to automatically scan my site every week. Through its interface, I can change URLs as needed, or remove the link entirely.

Social media widget

  • This plug-in allows me to easily build those appealing & visual sidebars that tell you where else I’m found online.
What WordPress plug-ins do you find indispensable? Share in the comments!

 

  • http://ebookfriendly.com Piotr Kowalczyk

    I’d add WordPress SEO by Joast, an ultimate plugin to manage search engine optimization. But the plugin which I find especially useful for writers is a beauty called JetPack, which can replace several other plugins in areas of:
    - spell checking
    - sharing
    - multimedia
    - hovercards
    - shortlinks
    - mathematical equations

    If you’re interested in JetPack, here’s more: http://www.passwordincorrect.com/2011/05/25/jetpack-a-single-plugin-which-is-making-writers-life-easier/

  • http://www.janefriedman.com Jane Friedman

    Fabulous suggestion on JetPack. Going off to install now!

  • http://www.jillkemerer.com Jill Kemerer

    I don’t use WordPress, but I think every blog should have an easy way to reshare posts. A tweet button should have the author’s twitter handle embedded, not a third party site. For example, I have tweetmeme set up to add @jillkemerer along with the link and title of my post when someone presses the retweet button. Some retweet services embed @thirdparty instead of the author. I usually, I track down the author’s t.h. and replace @thirdparty with the @author, but it’s time consuming. I’m all about easy promotion! 

  • http://twitter.com/rewordnik Yvette M. Chin

    It’s funny; I just relaunched the food blog the other day, so this was very much on my mind. Just some thoughts/questions:

    – Jetpack is just indispensable now that it took over WP Stats.
    – WP-Typography
    – WordPress Database Backup: on-demand backups
    – For a contact form, I use a combination of Contact Form 7 + Really Simple Captcha.
    – Grand Flash Album Gallery is the only free plugin (that I can find), that does slideshows in iPhone/iPad-friendly jQuery magic. Anyone else have any suggestions?
    – WP Touch breaks so many of the other plugins I use (rendering them inoperable on the non-mobile mirror) that I gave up on it. Anyone else experience this?

  • http://www.janefriedman.com Jane Friedman

    Great tip! Thanks, Jill. The functionality/streamlining of share buttons is something I’m still working on. It’s not exactly as I would like it. (Have gone ahead and added TweetMeme to help with the tweeting part, in any case!)

  • http://www.janefriedman.com Jane Friedman

    Thanks for the great list, Yvette!

    Wow, hadn’t heard of WP-Typography, but looks like something quite useful for the editors & designers among us.Haven’t experienced any problems with WP Touch … yet. Hopefully someone else can jump in and comment on that.

  • http://ebookfriendly.com Piotr Kowalczyk

    It’s a good choice, really. JetPack replaces a couple of other plugins and was developed by guys from Automattic (the same as WordPress) so there is no danger that the plugin will be discontinued/not compatible with the latest WordPress installation.

  • http://www.onlybyprayer.com Jane VanOsdol

    Jane,

    Thanks for all the great tips on these! They are so helpful.

    I have a separate question on Web writing I’m wondering if you could clear up.

    Which style guides and dictionary are standard in the Web writing world? Is it the AP style guide and Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary? Chicago Manual of Style? Both? I’ve been searching trying to find an answer, and it seems that each place kind of does their own thing. I am a freelance writer who just started working part time for an internet marketing company, and I need to standardize what all the freelancers are doing.

    Thanks for your help with this!

  • James Finn Garner

    Just installed AddThis, but would really like to change the embedded handle.  Hope someone can respond and tell us how. 

  • http://igorgriffiths.com igor Griffiths

    Hi Jane when you mentioned Disqus my heart sank but I was pleasantly surprised when it came to leaving this comment.

    Perhaps it is in the settings but far too many sites using Disqus are a real pain to leave comments on and thus I usually do not bother.

    Supercache is a great plug in that is now part of my key plug-in group.

    One I would add is top-commentator, this does as the title suggests, ranks your commentators in the sidebar with hyper links back to their sites. A little bit of love for your regular visitors.

    igor Griffiths

  • http://www.janefriedman.com Jane Friedman

    Here are instructions for changing the embedded Twitter handle in AddThis:
    http://www.spiderhousepr.com/blog/addthis-wordpress-plugin-twitter-tweet-branding-finally-fixed/

  • http://www.janefriedman.com Jane Friedman

    There isn’t really a standard I know of other than AP. Even Wired.com uses it!

  • http://www.janefriedman.com Jane Friedman

    Thanks, Igor. Disqus has always worked great for me; perhaps my settings are looser than others? … And Top Commentator sounds wonderful! I’ll check it out.

  • James Finn Garner

    Thanks Jane!  Will tinker with it!  Love your site

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  • Krissy Brady

    I work on both WordPress and Blogger–I have IntenseDebate on my Blogger blog and I love it! For my WordPress blog, I installed CommentLuv as an attachment to the WordPress comments system that’s already there. I love how convenient it is to reply to all comments directly in the comments section. A new WordPress plugin I recently discovered for those who want to launch an online store is wp-ecommerce, which allows you to sell both physical and digital products. I’m only in the beginning stages of setting it up, but I’m loving it so far! For sharing, I use the sexybookmarks plugin, and I agree, Akismet is a must-have! I’m glad you mentioned the broken link checker, because this is something I seriously need to complete, lol! It always seems to make its way lower on the to-do list, but it is sooo important.

  • http://www.janefriedman.com Jane Friedman

    Thanks for your suggestions! 

    I’ve heard good things about WP-Ecommerce, too. (But have no need for it at this point.)

  • Anonymous

    These are tremendous tips from PodCamp.  I’m planning to implement many of them into my blog, Jane.  I hope to attend next year’s PodCamp. :)

  • http://www.jessicascott.net Jessica Scott

    Jane
    Thanks for the great post. I’ve added a couple of the links above and found they dramatically improved my site appearance. I have a bad tendency to do things the hard way, so thanks for simplifying my life in this case!

  • http://www.janefriedman.com Jane Friedman

    Excellent!

  • http://www.janefriedman.com Jane Friedman

    Terrific, so glad they came in helpful—and haven’t blown up your site … yet!  :)

  • Deeone Kingskidd

    Hi Jane, new to your site, but so far I’m loving what I’m reading. You’ve listed some very cool plugins here as well. :) Thanks for sharing. As far as commenting plugins are concerned, I have found CommentLuv Premium to be an absolute gem. I’m not sure if Andy has debuted it yet, I got in when it was in it’s beta phase; but it has 7 plugins wrapped into one. I’d highly recommend just looking into it, if nothing else. :)

    I’m also loving the idea of the Broken Link plugin. I’ve never even heard about that one. So thanks for that awesome information. 
    Love the site, and since you’re now in my Goggle Reader, I shall definitely be returning. ;)  

    All the best to you! 

  • http://www.janefriedman.com Jane Friedman

    Thanks, Deeone! I’ve seen the CommentLuv plug-in over at Writer Unboxed, where I’m a guest, and I agree that it has nice functionality. Considering how & when to switch.  :)

  • http://twitter.com/rewordnik Yvette M. Chin

    So, after messing with this, I figured out what the problem is: It’s WP-Touch and the Grand Flash Album Gallery AND WP-Cache…. Go figure. ;)

    Now, I’m really looking for replacement for the Album Gallery, but that gets us beyond the “basic” rubric. ;)

  • http://www.janefriedman.com Jane Friedman

    Here’s an update on my end: I tried WP-typography, and for some strange reason, it started hyphenating words in my TweetDeck desktop app! Totally unconnected to my site! But as soon as I disabled it, TweetDeck went back to normal.

    Bizarre.

  • http://twitter.com/Lisa_Ahn Lisa Ahn

    I just added the Social Media Widget that you recommend here — love it! Thanks.

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  • Melanie Marttila

    Thanks so much for this :)   I’m learning more every day.  Soon it will all be second nature.  These are all great suggestions.

  • http://www.saharaservice.com/?page_id=468 Computer & Laptop

    A WordPress blog is completely seperate from your site and unless you know how to design and code designs to the WordPress theme format, you won’t be able to integrate the design. You can, however, look at the WordPress theme database for some pre-made themes.Thanks for sharing the information.

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