First of all, I have to give mad props to Ryan Ward for getting me started with the WordPress plug-in’s. I deleted my old WP blog because I didn’t like the functionality, and I was getting spammed like crazy. I complained about it in the AWG @ Real Estate Webmasters, and Ryan gave me a great list of plug-in’s. I installed them, and then found a couple more that I like, as well. Here’s the list of plug-in’s I’m using, and why:
- Lucia’s Linky Love – This plug-in is the best Do-Follow blog plug-in out there. It strips the no-follow attribute from your comment signatures, but with different settings you can control. Check out what this plug-in can do for you.
- The All In One SEO Pack optimizes your WP blog for the Search Engines. It accomplishes this by cutting down on the duplicate content the spiders see, and by optimizing the meta-tags & title for your blogs.
- Did You Pass Math? is an awesome plug-in that verifies human users (i.e. – kills the spambots) by asking simple questions like “what is the sum of 9 and 0.” Definitely a must for your blog…and your sanity.
- Subscribe to Comments will definitely help increase participation in your blog. It allows users who comment on the blog to, well, subscribe to comments. Go ahead and make the “subscribe” box checked by default, and watch your comment #s climb!
- Sociable is a sweet little plug-in that allows you to tack on social bookmarking tags at different points in your blog. All the big social bookmarking sites are there – and there are about 20 you’ve probably never heard of!
So…that’s what I’m packing at my WP blog. Let me know what you guys think – or if I’m missing anything major here!
A few other great plugins for blogs. I’m also using these.
WP-PageNavi : Navigational links gives high PR to older pages!
Permalink Redirect: Permalink Redirect ensures that pages and entries are always accessed via the permalink. Otherwise, a 301 redirect will be issued. Avoid Duplicate Content
I’m hoping you use Akismet…definitely the best spam blocking tool available
Nope – I like DYPM much better.
Nice list of plugins.. Saved me the research, that’s what I love about the internets :D
Hi Eric,
Not sure this falls in the plugin category, but, I see you are doing it here on your blog and I do this on mine as well. Your URL’s are rewritten and I think this can sort of fall into the “plugin” category although it’s built into the CMS. If anyone comes across this and would like to know what I’m talking about, check out Eric’s URL. Specifically, the part where the URL is the title of the post. Search engine and human engine friendly:-) This is very easy to do, but I will warn anyone who has lots of posts that if you change your URL’s, all of your posts will be temorarily lost while the SE’s respider your blog.
Here’s how you change your URL’s:
-From your CMS, go to Options/Permalinks
- Go to Common Options and check the radio button that says “Custom, specify below”
-Type this /%postname%/
- Click update.
That’s it.
Your URL’s will be rewritten with words that actually make sense.
Eric,
Don’t have a Wordpress blog yet but have heard a lot of great things about this platform. After reading your post and about the plug-ins I know I will be getting one started shortly. Thanks for this information.
This is a great list and basically what I use on my blog. I use Akis as well as a plugin called 1 click install so I dont have to mess with uploading or any of that stuff as well.
Thanks for the comment, Sam, and good to hear from you. Where are you hanging out these days?
I hang out on a couple SEO blogs but mostly I just spend a lot of time selling real estate.
Eric,
Thanks a bunch for adding those links! My main blog is on wordpress, and I’m really ecstatic that you turned me on to Lucia’s Linky Love. I think this is a great way to encourage your visitors to come back when used in combination with subscribe to comments.
One that I use personally is called Tailhitter; it adds the Hittail code to your blog posts so you can track your long tail as well.
You recently up’d your LLL, is that working better now? I recently went to it from do-follow for the reasons you stated, but wonder if I need to up it as well.
Yeah….there were people that were abusing the site for deep links to diff’t pages on their site. By bumping it to 4, it killed all the live links to the deep links that they had dropped (basically, there were guys coming by & dropping 3 comments to a specific page on their site, then revisiting a few weeks later & dropping 3 comments to another page.) Also, it’s tougher for them to do that. I just don’t like it when people are obviously trying to manipulate.
BTW – I don’t mind when genuine participants link to different pages on their site…it’s just the blatant offenders that were bugging me.
OK – so I should have read this prior to posting my last comment! Great resource list. I have Lucia’s on my blog as well. Set the parameter pretty low – presently at 4 comments. Though, I have noticed that some folks have theirs set to as many as 10.
Hi Eric,
Thanks for the tips. I am always looking for ways to improve my blogs.
I’ve recently got my new website up. Thanks for the tips on the wordpress plug-ins. I absolutely love WP and all it has to offer. I’m going to have to try Lucia’s Linky Love sometime. I’m still getting it all up and running!
Great tips, I now look forward to putting them to use!