One of our fellow bloggers, Eric Saylor (from Real Business Answers) recently emailed me letting me know that he was making the switch from WordPress.com to the self hosted variety. The reason he states was:
The biggest reason we want to switch over is so we can provide our site with a more professional feel and include plugins and features that you can’t use on .com.
Eric then went on to ask me if I had any plugins that I could recommend him, and he probably didn’t expect me to shoot back an email with the 17 WordPress Plugins that I personally use and the reason why I do – but that is what he got!
I use all I plugins for a reason – they aren’t just there to slow my page load times. So I thought that I would share them with you as well!
The 17 WordPress Plugins That I Believe Will Dramatically Improve Your Blog
Askimet
Cuts the majority of spam comments, saving your a lot of time (especially when you start to get more comments)
All-In-One-SEO
This is is great for helping you fine tune the Search Engine Optimisation of your blog!
CommentLuv
Because it allows me to give something back to my commenters by allowing me to promote their latest post with each comment.
Comment Redirect
Allows you to send your commentators to a different page after the submit their comment, This is perfect for list building because you are able to send them to a specific post or squeeze page.
Comment Relish <– Seems To Have Been Retired
Allows you to send a personalised email to your first time commentators to thank them for their comment. You can use this to encourage people to subscribe to your rss feed, subscribe to your list, or just provideadded value!
Contact Form 7
Really easy to use plugin that allows you to set up a contact form on your blog.
SexyBookmarks
This is the best plugin that I have found to put all your social media buttons in the same place!
Do Follow
If you are not afraid to share your link juice, this is a fantastic way to give your commentators some additional love. Works extremely well in conjunction with the KeywordLuv plugin.
FeedBurner FeedSmith
If you are using FeedBurner to track your feed count and stats, FeedSmith makes sure that you do not miss out on tracking every single one of your subscribers. It does this by finding all the ways to access your feed and redirecting them to your FeedBurner feed.
Google XML Sitemaps
This is a really easy way to create a Sitemap for your WordPress blog. I think that this plugin is essential if you are wanting search engine traffic and especially if you are using Google Webmaster Tools.
KeywordLuv
Reward your commentators by separating their name from their keywords, in the link to their website, giving them improved anchor text.
WordPress Thread Comments
Once you start getting a lot of comments it is hard to reply to each one individually. This plugin allows you to reply to specific comments (and comes in extremely handy!)
Subscribe Remind
Gives your readers a little reminder at the end of each post that if they like your content, they should consider subscribing to your rss feed.
Subscribe To Comments
This is a great way to get you commentators to come back time and again to reply to addition comments left on your post.
TweetMeme Retweet Button
Adds a button to each post that allows visitors to quickly retweet your post to their Twitter account.
WP-BlogEngage
Adds a Blogengage vote button to your posts. Blog Engage is like a Digg, but just for bloggers!
WP Greet Box
Show a different message to your visitor depending on which site they are coming from. For example, you can ask Digg visitors to Digg your post, Google visitors to subscribe to your RSS feed etc.
What WordPress Plugins Do You Use?
Do you use any of all of the plugins I have listed? Do you recommend another plugin that I may have missed out? Comment below and share your thoughts!
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed! All comments are Do-Follow, KeywordLuv and CommentLuv!
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Subscribe Remind, Comment Relish, and TweetMeme Retweet Button are currently being downloaded. Thanks for sharing!
Alex Monroe´s last blog ..The New Generation: I Shall Not Pay For Content
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I have commentluv but somehow missed keywordluv! A+ post Tom
Paul Roekle´s last blog ..Things I Learned When Writing A Sales Page
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Tom Reply:
February 24th, 2010 at 12:36 am
Commentators love keyword love! Especially if you add do follow! Thanks Paul
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Doesn’t look like they have the Comment Relish plugin. Is it under another name?
Alex Monroe´s last blog ..Creating Employee Happiness, Give Them Staplers
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Tom Reply:
February 24th, 2010 at 12:36 am
Sorry Alex, that’s what I get for trusting the Plugin Page Link in WordPress! I just updated the link but you can grab it here: http://old.justinshattuck.com/2007/03/19/comment-relish-wordpress-plugin/
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I’m really impressed with your list of plugins. This type of plugin article is very popular, but many of the important plugins you’ve listed are rarely included. I think you’ve got a great list here. I’ve never seen comment redirect, but that sounds like an awesome plugin as well. I’m going to check it out now.
Blake @ Marketing Blog Review´s last blog ..Two Bad Excuses Bloggers Use For Not Linking Out
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Tom Reply:
February 24th, 2010 at 3:54 am
Thanks Blake! Plugins are great because they can become such a time saver. And you really should check out the comment redirect one. It is a great marketing tool!
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Hi Tom,
I was surprised to see that I’m not familiar with at least half of these. I particulary like blog engage and subscribe remind. I will be adding these later.
One thing I’m not sure of is sexy bookmarks. I had been using share this until last week. I dint know if I’m getting anymore sharing as a result.
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Tom Reply:
February 24th, 2010 at 1:17 am
I do see what you mean. I don’t really get any traffic from stumble or Digg – so I am not sure how effective this plugin really is (maybe my content just ins’t right for those mediums).
But you are going to love those plugins!
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Hi Tom,
I’m using several of these that you mention. I also use the Google Analytics plug-in so I can see a snapshot of my traffic right on my dashboard without logging into GA. Video-quick tags is a great one for me also since I’m a podcaster.
Thanks for the plugin links. I’m going to ask Brian to add XML sitemaps over on Blogging Wire.
@Ileane
Ileane´s last blog ..Build an Online Profile for Your Blog with Retaggr
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Paul Reply:
February 24th, 2010 at 11:12 am
IIleane,
Thanks for sharing this.
Regards
Paul
Paul´s last blog ..Forgiveness
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i am using 7 of these already will check out the rest..you did not add ..Apture …will make a post about it soon…
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Tom Reply:
February 24th, 2010 at 5:48 am
I haven’t heard of Apture. I’m just off to Google to find out what it does!
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Paul Reply:
February 24th, 2010 at 11:14 am
Tom,
Let me know when you do!
Regards
Paul
Paul´s last blog ..Forgiveness
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All fantastic plugins brother I use a fair amoount of them.
Great stuff, I would add that if you register with commentluv you have more control over which post you leave behind in the link back.
Top work matey
TheInfoPreneur´s last blog ..They Will Catch You When You Fall
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Tom Reply:
February 24th, 2010 at 5:51 am
I didn’t realise you could sign up for CommentLuv. That is a great advantage being able to choose the post because you would obviously choose the one with the best headline or the one you want the link juice to pass too!
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Askimet is really annoying… sometimes might eat legitimate emails. I gave up using it years ago. Now using WP-spam free… a better alternative
Codrut Turcanu´s last blog ..Affiliate Blogging Interview with Henri Junttila at WakeUpCloud.com
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Tom Reply:
February 24th, 2010 at 5:53 am
I’ve heard quite a few bloggers plugging WP-spam free, but I haven’t really had enugh problems with Askimet yet to warrant a change. Sure one or two comments are going to get caught but they are easy to fish out.
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Paul Reply:
February 24th, 2010 at 11:17 am
Tom,
This is interesting.
I’m always undecided about some comments in my spam, sorted by Askimet. I end up deleting them to be on the safe side.
Regards
Paul
Paul´s last blog ..Forgiveness
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How can you attest for you sure that only 1 or 2 “reliable” comments get caught by Askimet, does it show you any stats ?
Codrut Turcanu I List Building Tips´s last blog ..AWeber VS GetResponse [Which One Is Better and Why]
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Tom Reply:
February 24th, 2010 at 6:05 am
No it doesn’t, but I can quite easily check my spam comments. And if I am getting 20 comments a day and it accidentally catches one – I think that is fair enough. It did just catch quite a unique form of spam where a blogger included a link to his blog while trying to pass it off as ‘a similar post he had found’, so I was happy with that.
I don’t worry if it catches real comments if it is also catching the spam, because it takes the same amount of effort to approve a new comment as it does to fish one of Askimet.
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Comment Relish no longer seems to be working. It’s not in the WordPress Plugin Directory and you can’t download it from the site.
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Tom Reply:
February 24th, 2010 at 6:31 am
Did you check my updated link:
http://old.justinshattuck.com/2007/03/19/comment-relish-wordpress-plugin/
It has a download link on the page.
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Matthew Big Red Tomato Company Reply:
February 24th, 2010 at 8:27 am
I sure did! But sadly not found on this server message appears:
http://www.justinshattuck.com/bin/plugins/wpcomment-relish.zip
Matthew Big Red Tomato Company´s last blog ..Wednesday Wisdom
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Tom Reply:
February 24th, 2010 at 6:37 pm
Sorry, I didn’t check the download link. If you like, I could just email you the plugin – I don’t want to upload it in case I get in trouble for some reason.
I think you should try WP-spam free. They report no spam, they delete it automatically , and you only receive 99.9% reliable comments… let me know how it goes.
Btw, what;s going on with all the good plugins. Some are getting removed from WP. Are those guys “racists” or what? lol
Also, some plugin developers have the bad habit of not linking to their plugin from their site/blog, and rely upon WP – big mistake.
Codrut Turcanu I List Building Tips´s last blog ..AWeber VS GetResponse [Which One Is Better and Why]
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Tom Reply:
February 24th, 2010 at 6:38 pm
Yea I don’t understand. Maybe their developers have just moved on – but can’t they leave it up?
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Love the list Tim, some very good plugins there.
Just a couple to add to that
>Contextual Related Posts – Shows related content on your posts/pages
>Tweet Old Post – Enables automatic tweeting of older posts, great for promoting older content that may otherwise be forgotten.
>Adsense Now! – Easily add Google Adsense to your WordPress Site
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Tom Reply:
February 24th, 2010 at 6:58 am
Hey Barry!
I will look at implementing those first two! For Adsense I use the WhyDoWork Adsense Plugin, but I didn’t include that because I am not looking to make money though Adsense on this blog.
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Hi! thanks for the wonderful list!
elie palima@make money online´s last blog ..How to Start a Blog and Make Money – Coaching Videos
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Tom,
Thank you for sharing this great and very useful list of plugins. I’m already using some of them but I’ll certainly look into some of the others.
Regards
Paul
Paul´s last blog ..Forgiveness
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A comprehensive list.
I use all of these except feedburner feedsmith, comment relish, comment redirect and wp-engage.
I feel i need to get rid of some plugins that have but i’m not sure what impact they have on my blog
I wonder what number is optimal and when does excess begin
.
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Tom Reply:
February 24th, 2010 at 6:36 pm
I think that instead of thinking what is our limit for plugins, we should just focus on only using the ones that we think benefit our blog. There are also plugins that help speed up blogs – so maybe you could use them to counteract the other ones (that is one twisted cycle!)
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Don’t forget about WP-Super Cache and DB Cache Reloaded bro
Pubudu Kodikara´s last blog ..Ubuntu : How to Change the Profile Picture and Password
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Tom Reply:
February 25th, 2010 at 2:41 am
I haven’t tried these. I will Google them now!
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Have not tried Keyword Love. I have seen it thought. Looks good. Is it good for SEO?
Agent Deepak´s last blog ..Free Blog Counseling and Coaching
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Tom Reply:
February 25th, 2010 at 2:41 am
It won’t effect your SEO if your blog is not do-follow, but even if it was, I doubt the SEO effects would be that bad!
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I agree with a lot of these however I do prefer spam karma 2 over Askimet. I am going to give commentluv a try
Garen @ best web hosting service´s last blog ..Best WordPress Blog Plugins – Plug It In, Plug It in
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Tom Reply:
February 25th, 2010 at 2:42 am
Askimet definitely seems like a controversial one! But you will love commentluv (and so will your commentators).
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I love Keyword love and yet despite that, never got round to installing it (until this post
) Thank you for the recommendation about comment redirect. Sounds like a great one. Can you set variables for each post so that different posts redirect to different pages? That would be very cool.
Eleanor Edwards @ UK Charity GiveABrick´s last blog ..Love is a Friendship Set to Music
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Tom Reply:
February 25th, 2010 at 6:10 am
No, that is not something you can do with comment redirect. That would be awesome wouldn’t it?
If you are any good at coding or know someone who is – it would make a great plugin
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Great post. I have most of these plugins. They work great.
Just got Subscribe Remind and will be testing this out to see how I like it.
element321´s last blog ..Uptime Robot Server Monitoring Services
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Tom Reply:
February 25th, 2010 at 2:28 pm
Nice! Subscribe remind is really handy!
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Hi! Thanks for the plugins. I don’t use any yet because I’m just getting started with my blog. This post was extremely helpful with ideas of what to use while I’m setting up my blog. Keep them coming!
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Tom Reply:
February 25th, 2010 at 2:29 pm
Thanks Andrea! My advice would be to only install the ones that YOU think will add to your blo. And don’t worry there are sure to be a heap more great posts in the future
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I use all of those plugins except for the voting one – which I am now looking into
Clare Swindlehurst´s last blog ..My Instant Ecovers
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Hey!
You’re so right that i didn’t expect you to email me back with a giant list of plug-ins. I was thoroughly pleased and satisfied! I’m really glad to see you decided to give this advice to everyone. Great email and great post. Fantastic you’re putting in so much effort!
Eric Saylor´s last blog ..Stop Chatting, Start Doing
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Tom Reply:
February 28th, 2010 at 5:37 am
Hey Eric! I look forward to seeing which ones you have implemented, and glad you were able to find some value in my email – it seems like a lot of people have!
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I also like TDO Mini Forms which is a good way to easily accept guest posts.
Subscribe 2 is another useful plugin that emails your readers about new posts. Hourly, daily, weekly – fully customizable – very useful.
The final one is WP-SpamFree. Not only does it combat spam, it also has a very basic but reliable contact form. Have a look at it on my blog http://www.createasuccessfulblog.com/contact
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Great list, added two after reading this…
I also really like the sexy bookmarks plugin and top commentor plugins.
Ryan @ Planting Dollars´s last blog ..Why Ideas are Like Sperm
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Nice info. Thanks for the share. i have used some of them from ur list
Bing My Pics´s last blog ..Pleasant Nature High Quality Wallpapers -2
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I definitely don’t use all of them but there are a lot of great plugins you have mentioned. In order to don’t slow my blog down too much I try to remove as much plugins as possible and only keep the necessary ones.
Do you use WordPress Thread Comments on this blog? Because I have been thinking about adding a reply plugin to my blog. I’ve actually downloaded one which seems to be pretty good but it has a lot of code and is hard to customize. What do you think?
Julius Kuhn-Regnier´s last blog ..How to Make a Great First Impression Through Guest Posts
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Tom Reply:
March 2nd, 2010 at 5:49 pm
Yea I do use Thread Comments. I tried another one but it was just too complex. This one was extremely easy to set up! I’m not much of a coder/designer so I am not sure how hard it would be to customise though.
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Great list of WP plugins. I don’t use Askimet (believe it or not). And I’m planning to try BlogEngage plugin. Hope it helps me get more exposure!
TechChunks´s last blog ..Opera 10.50 Released For Windows, Mac And Linux Version ‘Coming Soon’
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Thank you for the list. i have installed several of them now, especially the Dofollow plugin.
ARQUIGRAFICO´s last blog ..El arco en la Construccion.
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I just installed CommentLuv and KeywordLuv last night, and wouldn’t have even known about them if it weren’t for you blog. But I couldn’t find KeywordLuv in the WordPress.org database, so I had to download it from the software site and then upload it manually to my server. No big deal, it’s easy enough to do, but WordPress has made me lazy in that I like the easy install option…
Thanks again
Lee@Search Engine Viking´s last blog ..Why You Should Market Like Nine Inch Nails
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Tom Reply:
March 5th, 2010 at 6:10 pm
Haha! I agree, WordPress does make us lazy. But you will love what those plugins will do for your blog.
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I just installed CommentLuv also. I like it a lot. (luv it?)
Fast and Secure Contact Form is perfect if you want to add another level of spam protection by including a CAPTCHA.
James´s last blog ..Senior Citizens Free Blog Setup
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Thanks fore sharing you’re cool plugins with you. I personaly just use the All in one SEo Package and the xml sitemap, that’s everything i need to get my blog going, but still thanks fore sharing all the other plugings with us here
George´s last blog ..The Golden Ticket License Is comming
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Yeah list building looks like the holy grale of Internet Marketing
George´s last blog ..The Golden Ticket License Is comming
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When it comes in preventing spam to our website, nothing beats askimet. And if we want to reward our commentors with backlinks, commentluv and keywordluv is advisable!
diocelin@website design münchen´s last blog ..XT Commerce Abonnement Modul
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