For the whole time I've been blogging, I've always been into widgets and plugins, but there really wasn't much to do inside the blogspot. While blogspot is great to start blogging, being free and very easy to use, self-hosted blog is the only option for more serious blogging and/or tech-geek like me.
WordPress (.org) as blogging platform comes with great features as default and maintaining basic blog is very easy, like with the free services. Of course, one has to take care of hosting the blog somewhere, instead of the free spot for the blog at WordPress.com or Blogspot.com.
But when you get deeper into the WordPress and start playing with themes and plugins, it gets fun. There are thousands of plugins for WordPress, most of them free, like the platform itself, so trying them all out would take a lot of time. But fortunately there are lists and review service inside the WordPress.org, which you can check here: WordPress.org Plugin Directory.
I look for plugins with great reviews and/or lot of downloads. With little experimenting, I've found about 20 plugins I use at every WordPress blog I have at the moment.
Essential WordPress Plugins
The list has 19 WordPress Plugins, which I consider "must haves". These 19 were in use on this blog at the time this post was written...
- Akismet
- All in One SEO Pack
- commentluv
- Dagon Design Sitemap Generator
- Enhanced WP-ContactForm
- Google Analytics for WordPress
- Google XML Sitemaps
- HeadSpace2
- No Self Pings
- Redirection
- Robots Meta
- Sociable
- Subscribe To Comments
- What Would Seth Godin Do
- WordPress.com Stats
- WP Super Cache
- Yawasp - Yet Another WordPress Anti Spam Plugin
- Yet Another Related Posts Plugin
- Yoast Breadcrumbs
I could probably do without the WordPress.com Stats and some others, but most of these provide nice features which, while not absolutely needed, make the blog work better for both me, and you the reader.
I'm using several plugins (Google Analytics for WordPress, Sociable, Meta Robots WordPress plugin and Yoast Breadcrumbs) created by Joost de Valk at Yoast.com. I love all these, and I'm so happy I found site. Yoast.com is not just about plugins by the way, so check it out for other WordPress stuff and web development stuff too. For more info on Joost, visit Yoast and also check out the "Bloggers Face-Off: Joost de Valk vs Satish Gandham" @DailyBlogTips.
Experimenting New WordPress Plugins
I addition to the my "essentials" list, I'm always on a lookout for new plugins, and try them out when I have time. If I see something cool on another blog, I immediately search for "my plugins" post if the plugin name is not
My "Plugins To Try Out At Some Point" list looks like this at the moment:
- Related Sites
- "Improve Commenting" Plugins (not looked for these yet)
- Blog Metrics
What do you think of the plugins I'm using at the moment? Is there a plugin missing from my list I should definately check out? Any cool plugins you would recommend me to try out on the blog?
If you do have some plugin in mind or just want to share your experiences, leave a comment to this article.
