14 WordPress Plugins That Work For Me

Back in April, I wrote “Blog Posts I’d Like Someone Else to Write”.  It’s a list of topics that I had googled recently and couldn’t find a decent answer to—so basically I wanted other people to do my dirty work.  If you check out that post, make sure you read the comments as they were far superior to my actual post. 

Well, to this day, that page gets many new visitors from search engine queries…so obviously others are looking for the answers too.  So I am going to do my very best to answer some of my own questions!

 

I’m going to start with the one that the most people seemed to want—

#11—Wordpress Plugins Every “Mom Blogger” Should Have.

 

1—afterRead:

This plugin provides direction at the end of each post.  You can adjust all the settings to your liking.  I have mine set up to direct the reader to the next and previous post by showing the post titles.  But you can also set messages to your readers—asking them to donate or subscribe or check out a certain post.  Whatever you like! 

2—Akismet:

Anyone who has a WordPress Blog already has this spam plugin as it is already there when you first sign up.  From what I’ve heard, it’s one of the best one out there.  No need for the annoying CAPTCHA plugin!  Thank God!

3—All in One SEO Pack:

This is one of the best SEO packs out there—at least based on the research I’ve done   I’m no pro, but this works for me!

4—Better Tag Cloud:

I hunted this plugin down because my tag cloud was seriously out of control.  With the Better Tag Cloud, you can control the number of tags that are displayed.  I have mine set up to only display tags that have been used more than 3 times.  It’s very handy and I think it makes the sidebar look a lot cleaner.

5—CommentLuv:

This plugin allows for a person’s last post to be displayed after they leave a comment.  I am seeing this on almost all the blogs I visit these days.  Another good reason to make sure your post titles are eye-catching!

6—Contact Form 7:

This is simple and basic, but it works for me.  I use it on my “Contact Me” page.  Very clean and user-friendly!

7—Dean’s Permalinks Migration:

This plugin was really handy when I decided to change my permalink structure.  Permalinks are the links to your actual pages by the way—and mind used to be  www.thefrugalfrontier.com/45/4590/305990.com  which was VERY confusing and hard to remember, so I changed it a couple months ago to include the category and post title.  This plugin made the transition painless by redirecting all the old links so I didn’t have to dig into the archives and do it myself.  

8—FeedBurner FeedSmith:

This plugin directs all subscriber counts—no matter how they subscribe—to Feedburner so you can have the most accurate counts.  I’m not sure if I’m explaining this one that well, but the plugin site will give you all the answers you need.  This is just one of those plugins that everyone said I should have, so I got it

9—Google XML Sitemaps:

Makes for very fast indexing of your blog on search engines—I’m not sure how it works, but it does!

10—LinkWithin:

This plugin provides suggestions at the end of each post—directing the reader to similar entries.  I like this one because it uses a thumbnail—and let’s face it—sometimes pictures catch more attention than just words. 

11—Most Comments Widget:

I like this one because it puts a little widget in your sidebar that shows your most commented upon posts.  It has really worked for me—as a new blogger—to drive traffic to specific posts instead of just to my front page.  You have control over where to place it and how many links to provide and so fourth.  Very easy to use!

12—TwitterLink Comments:

This is kind of like the CommentLuv feature, except that it’s for Twitter.  Simply enter your twitter name in the box and it shows up in the comment section.  Easy Peazy! 

13—TweetMeme Retweet Button:

Allows you to “tweet” the post.  I like this, but I’m thinking of replacing it for something else.  I’m doing research now and I’m kind of thinking about using BackType Tweet Count—but I’m not quite sure yet.

14—Subscription Options:

See those pretty little subscription buttons on the right side?  This plugin will get you those!  You can customize the colors and locations.  Again, very user friendly here people!

 

 

BONUS:

I have also downloaded a few plugins that sound awesome, but haven’t activated them yet.  You ever try any of them?

1—hRecipe:

Allows you to easily format recipes on your blog.  I think this would be awesome if I posted more recipes.  Also, I have heard that this plugin works really well. 

2—Thank Me Later:

This one seems so neat.  Basically it sends out an email to first-time commenters on your blog.  You can totally customize the message they will receive too, which really seems like a clever idea.  From what I gather, you will probably need some html knowledge to customize it to your liking.  Anyway, seems like a pretty useful tool. 

3—SEO Slugs:

This plugin removes all of the simple words from your title (like a, the, and is for example).  It creates simple “slugs” for your URL.  To me, it would be really helpful, but I am kind of nervous to try it.  I don’t want to mess with my permalinks again. 

 

So what am I missing?  Any must-have plugins that didn’t make my list?  Leave me a comment and let me know, because I love trying new things with my blog! 

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