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The best part of using WordPress to run your site is the sheer availability of plugins that will allow you to do almost anything. Borrowing heavily from the Apple model where Apps elevated the iPod into so much more than a portable personal music player, Plugins have transformed WordPress into much more than a simple blogging platform. Most of the widely available plugins are free - the upside for their creators is that their plugins provide keyword backlinks back to the creator's site, which significantly enhances their profile with the Google and Bing Search Engines. Although there are nearly 24,000 plugins currently available on WordPress.org the following Plugins are ones that I use on each new site that I create. For me, finding a great new Plugin for my blog at How to Earn Money Online can be like finding buried treasure. Here are five plugins that I use on every one of my sites. 1) WordPress SEO by Yoast - Getting some love from the search engines will bring new users to your site. Understanding all the nuances and technicalities of Search Engine Optimization is more than most bloggers have a willingness to learn. Enter the WordPress SEO plugin by Yoast. Perhaps the best feature of this plugin is a red/yellow/green indicator on individual posts to show the degree of SEO friendliness. Another great feature of the plugin is how it automatically maintains an up to date sitemap and submits the information to Google and Bing on a regular basis. 2) IntenseDebate - Comments are an important feedback mechanism between a site and its audience. For those who find the default WordPress comment box seriously lacking in functionality and visual appeal, IntenseDebate is the plugin for you. This is a much smaller plugin than the more popular JetPack and adds much less lag time to your pages. The publisher of IntenseDebate is owned by Automattic - the same company that sells the 'Akisment' comment spam filter. There are 3 aspects of the plugin that are great - total control over the look and feel of the comments; nominal drag on your site, and the free price tag. 3) Wordfence Security - The default Wordpress security feature has some well known deficiencies. Give yourself peace of mind and install the Wordfence Security plugin. There are 2 versions of this - free and premium. The free version is sufficient for most users and will lock your site down after a predetermined number of incorrect login attempts. The free version will also scan your site at regular intervals, and will alert you to malware and virus like activity. 4) Yet Another Related Posts Plugin (YARPP) - Have you ever been on a blog and read a terrific post, then where shown a list of related posts at the end of the article? This is YARPP. This plugin uses an algorithm to search for other posts within your site and will present a Top 5 list of similar content. The plugin is easy to configure and works right out of the box. 5) Google Analyticator - Every site I run is registered with Google Analytics because of its superior tracking and data analysis tools. Having a solid understanding of how your users are interacting with your site provides incredible insight into what your audience prefers to consume. The Google Analyticator plugin links your site to your Analytics account, then provides a summary of key data within the WordPress dashboard. With the plugin, you can see 30-day traffic trending, key metrics (visits, page views, etc), 5 most viewed pages, Top 5 referring sites to your blog, and the 5 most used search terms that include your site in the results. Knowledge is power, and Google Analytics provides incredible information.
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