Since writing My Top 10 Best WordPress Plugins back in October, I have added quite a few more. So much so that I have received requests to make a new post showing all the Plugins I am currently running on the blog. With that in my mind, I present to you my 16 best WordPress Plugins.
Akismet Comment Spam Killer
This Plugin comes preinstalled with WordPress and should always be on. I get over 500 comment spams per day on this blog, and without Akismet, I would go crazy! To turn on Akismet, go into the Plugins section of your WordPress control panel and activate it. The software does require an API key however. You can get a free key by signing up for a WordPress account.
Subscribe to Comments 2.0
Subscribe to Comments 2.0, adds a “Notify me of followup comments via e-mail†check box below the submit comment button so users can keep track of the comments. When a new comment is made to the post, an email is sent to the subscriber notifying them. This is a much better system than subscribing to the individual comment RSS. Download this Plugin here. To get more details about the Plugin, go here.
Show Top Commentators
Ever since installing this Plugin, comments have really increased on the blog. Show Top Commentators encourages feedback and discussion by rewarding readers for making a comment. The top commentators are displayed on the right sidebar (under Categories) along with the number of comments made and a link back to their site/blog. Unlike links in the comments, the links on the Top Commentators are full links without a nofollow tag, so it really encourage people with blogs to comment. More information about this Plugin is available here.
Brian’s Threaded Comments
Brain’s Threaded Comments add a “Reply to this comment†link to every blog comments. When you click the reply link, your comment is placed direct under the comment you replied to. This is great if a reader asks a question. Instead of scrolling down the blog post to see if anyone answered, he can do so by looking at his own comment. Read more about the Plugin here.
Sidebar Widget
The Sidebar Widget is one of the most useful Plugins made for WordPress. The Widget allows you to customize the look of your sidebar without having to edit any PHP files – you just drag and drop items you want included in the sidebar and the Widget does the rest. Your WordPress theme must be Widget ready in order to use this Plugin.
Executable PHP widget
This Plugin allows you to run PHP codes inside the Sidebar Widget. I had to install this Plugin because the Feature Sites for Text Link Ads (aff) and the Top Commentators requires a PHP call and by itself, the Sidebar Widget doesn’t execute PHP codes. Grab the Plugin here.
Recent Comments
This Plugin comes with WordPress and retrieves a list of the most recent comments. You can see it in action on the right menu. Like the Related Posts Plugin, Recent Comments can help increase blog page views.
Related Posts
This Plugin, available from Mr. Wasabi, will find other blog posts that are related to the current post. This is a good way to generate extra page views and keep readers on your blog. The Plugin allows you to set how many related posts to display and gives you options for displaying them. There are also options to exclude excerpt and password protected pages. You can see the Plugin in action at the bottom of this post.
Digg This
I don’t use this Plugin any more since I’ve been banned from Digg. Digg This is a Plugin that detects incoming links from Digg.com and automatically display a link back to the Digg post, for people to Digg your story. When a Digg is first recognized, an email lets you know that someone has Dugg your story. There are many options to choose from in order to display the Digg link. The most popular is the Digg button that displays the number of Diggs a story received. Get the Digg This Plugin here.
RunPHP
This Plugin allows you to execute PHP codes inside a blog post. I was using it to show the Digg This button inside the top of my post instead of at the bottom. The advantage of using this Plugin was I could choose which posts to display the Digg button. Since I’ve been banned from Digg, I don’t use it anymore but it comes in handy when I have to run some PHP commands in a post. Get the Plugin here.
AdSense Deluxe
This is the Plugin that serves all my Google ads. The cool thing about AdSense Deluxe is it keeps track on the number of Google ads displayed and limits that number to three (the maximum number of ads Google allows on a page). That is why you see a 300×250 box ad in a blog post but that ad may disappears when the post is viewed from the front page.
Additionally, the AdSense Deluxe Plugin can be used to serve YPN or any other ads as well. I am using the Plugin to serve the 468 banner ad for BuzzBum and New To Tech. This is a must-have Plugin. Get it here.
Feedburner Feed Replacement
The easiest way to install FeedBurner on a WordPress blog is to use the FeedBurner Plugin. This Plugin direct 100% of your feed traffic through FeedBurner, ensuring accurate readership stats. The cool thing about this Plugin is that it automatically converts any existing subscribers from the old feed to the FeedBurner one.
Optimal Title
Optimal Title mirrors the function of wp_title() exactly, but moves the position of the separator to after the title rather than before. This allows you to have your blog name tacked on to the end of the page title instead of having it appear first. In other words, instead of John Chow dot Com >> The Title Of The Blog Post, it will show The Title Of The Blog Post < < John Chow dot Com. Doing the title this way should improve search engine rankings. Google Sitemap Generator
The easiest way to generate a Google Sitemap for WordPress is with this Plugin. Whenever you update, or add new content to your blog, the Plugin will generate a new sitemap for Google to use. In addition to saving you time, the Plugin will help get your blog indexed by Google much faster.
WordPress Database Backup
This Plugin comes installed with WordPress and provides an easy way to backup your WordPress database. You may download the backup file, or have it emailed to the address of your choice. The Plugin is very easy to use – just activate and then select “Backup†under “Manage†in your WordPress control panel. For security reasons, you should turn off the Plugin after you backed up your database.
Text Link Ads v2
This is the Plugin that serves the TLA ads you see under Featured Sites. To get this Plugin, you need to sign up and be approved as a Text Link Ads publisher. Once approved, the Plugin will serve all the text ads and make you money. This is by far my favorite WordPress Plugin! 😀