Wordpressadvice.com

Below is a list of the plugins I find most useful for my websites.

1. Akismet plugin
This default plugin which helps protect you from Spam should be activated as soon as you start your blog.

2. A Sticky Post Orderer
Allows you to control the order of your posts in categories. This is a must plug-in for me and helped me get around the problem of ordering my posts which was nagging me for some time. You can download the plugin from here

3. Popularity Contest Plugin
This is one of my favourite Wordpress plugins because it is so useful. It automatically calculates the number of hits you get on posts, categories etc. and allows you to display them on your front page. Just using this plugin as a tool to better understand how users are using your site is useful, but having the top 10 posts always displayed on your site is good for SEO and allows users to easily see what is popular on your site.

4. Google Sitemap Generator
I am not technical, so creating a sitemap for me was way beyond my skill set. In fact, I didn’t even know what a sitemap was! Using this plugin makes it a cinch to create and submit your sitemap to Google.

5. Easytube
This plugin makes it easy to insert YouTube videos. Once you install it all you have to do is activate and then when writing you post simply add and you’re done. I’m sure there are other YouTube related plugins around but this is the easiest one I’ve found so far.

6. Smart Update Plugin
A great plugin which allows you to track which pings have been successfully ‘pinged’. It also allows you to create a log file for debugging purposes. This was good for me because I had no idea before I used this plugin whether or not the sites I was pinging were being successfully sent to. It turned out that about 1/3 of the sites I was trying to ping weren’t working.

7. WP-d-tree Pluging
This is a great plugin and allows you to create drop down menus and collapsible and expandable categories for all your posts, categories, archives etc. and also enables a fair bit of tweaking of the colour scheme and the way the categories are displayed when you expand them. Surprisingly easy to install and use.

8. WP Review SIte
This is the perfect plugin if you want to add a ratings system to your site. The plugin integrates with Wordpress administration and you can sort your posts by weighted average. Unfortunately you have to pay for this plugin but it’s probably worth purchasing if you have a site based on user ratings.

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