I have written about hundreds of WordPress plugins over the last few years, some good, some not so good. So I thought it would be interesting to post my top 10 WordPress plugins. This list does include the coolest plugins, the most advanced plugins or the most popular.
These plugins are simply what I have found to be the most useful. That is, whenever I develop a new WordPress powered site, these are the essential plugins I upload 99% of the time. Everyone uses WordPress for different things so your list may be very different. And in a years time, my own list may be different too.
So without further ado, here are the 10 WordPress Plugins which I have found to be the most useful over the last few years. Enjoy :)
1. Feeburner Feedsmith
Originally designed by Steve Smith, Feedsmith hasn't really been updated since Feedburner was taken over by Google. Yet it remains an essential plugin for many WordPress users.
The plugin simply redirects all of your feed urls (such as www.yoursite.com/feed/ and www.yoursite.com/wp-rss2.php) to Feedburner so that all your RSS subscribers are...
WordPress is the perfect platform for running a multi author blog or website. By default you can allow users to leave comments with the Subscriber role or allow them to contribute to your website using the Contributor, Author, Editor or Administrator roles. Many themes also come packaged with an
author template so that dedicated author information pages can be created.
As you would expect, there are lots of great plugins which let you extend the functionality of WordPress for multi author blogs and websites. Today I will be looking at 10 of the best. I hope you enjoy the list :)
10 Useful WordPress Plugins for Multi-Author Blogs
1. Admin Message Board
The admin message board is kind of like a private Twitter network for you and your authors. You can leave messages up to 140 characters long to all staff or just users you specify. A useful way of keeping your staff informed.
Link:
Admin Message Board
2. Capability Manager
A useful plugin for changing the permissions...
The admin area is where you spend most of your time when working on your website or blog. So it's worth considering using one of the many plugins available which improve the admin experience.
Today I will be showing you 10 plugins for WordPress which will improve the admin area and increase productivity and your user experience.
10 WordPress Admin Plugins
Plugins are listed in no particular order :)
1. Easy Admin Color Schemes
A basic plugin which lets you easily customise the colour scheme of your admin area. The plugin comes with grey, blue, green and red colour schemes as default and allows you to create an infinite number of custom colour schemes.
You can force users to use your new custom colour scheme and you can set permissions for which users can create, edit and import themes. A simple plugin but one which is perfect for those who want to brand their admin area for members or authors.
Link:
Easy...
One of the reasons we all love WordPress is the thousands upon thousands of great plugins which are available for it. Plugins make WordPress so versatile. They can change WordPress from a simple content management system into a host of different websites types including photo and
video galleries, review sites,
classifieds,
forums, and much more.
However, we have all become a little lazy because of plugins. It only takes a few seconds to install a plugin so the first thing we do when we have a problem with our sites is search the
plugin directory, instead of trying to hard code the solution ourselves. This is usually the most practical thing to do though, particularly if you want to add some major functionality to your site like a gallery,
forum or an advanced contact form.
Quality of Coding
It's easy to forget the code behind the plugin. Some plugins are coded beautifully. However many are not and are filled with functions and classes that are never called. Plus, whether a plugin is coded well or not is...
I'm a huge fan of discussion forums. They are a fantastic way of encouraging people to return to your website on a daily basis. I've ran several forums over the last 10 years and still actively participate in a few as well. Forums thrive on websites which have a lot of content for visitors, so they work well with established blogs and content websites.
There are a lot of forum options available to you, some good, some not so good. For WP Mods I chose
bbPress, the lightweight forum solution from the makers of WordPress. This integrates with WordPress well and allows you to use your blogs database for user roles i.e. visitors don't need to sign up to both your blog and your forum since one login will work with both.
Many other forum scripts allow this too using what is known as a WordPress bridge. The bridge makes sure that member information is shared or copied from the blog database to the forum. This is worth doing if you require visitors to sign up to your site to read the content or make a comment.
However, for most websites I don't think the user information needs to be...
Advertisements are a major part of most websites success. This is particularly true for content sites who rely on income from banner and text advertisements to survive.
Today I will be showing you some useful WordPress plugins which will help you manage, monitor and optimise your websites advertisement inventory. I hope you find the list useful :)
Advanced Ad Management Plugins
Max Banner Ads
Max Banner Ads is a banner ad management plugin which boasts many features. It allows you to create an infinite number of ad zones, it tracks impressions and click throughs and it lets you add banner zones in widget areas too. It also lets you add banner areas directly to blog posts.
One of the best ad management plugins available, Max Banner Ads is perfect for those who want to add banners to multiple areas of their website and track impressions and clicks.
Max Banner Ad:
Info & Download
Advertising Manager
Advertising Manager is one of the most advanced ads plugins available for WordPress and works with most of the most popular ad networks on the web. You can also use your own...
Twitter plays a big part in many bloggers and web developers lives. It's a great platform for building relationships with other bloggers and developers and is used by thousands for promoting their site too (it's also a way of getting something off your chest!).
The default installation of WordPress is not integrated with Twitter but there are dozens of plugins available which will add Twitter functionality to your site. Today I will be looking at 50 of the best :)
Link: TwitterGrid
2. Twitter Friends Widget
Twitter friends allows you to display either your friends or your followers on your blog via a widget. You can remove friends from the list if you want and... 
Christopher Lotte (Columbus Realtor)
George Serradinho