Blogging 101: Essential Plugins

Once you have decided on which theme you are going to use for your blog, you can start customizing it and making it your own by installing plugins. Here are a few I recommend you check out.

Akismet

This is the first and primary plugin you should install once WordPress is setup. Akismet is a collaborative effort to make comment and trackback spam a non-issue and restore innocence to blogging, so you never have to worry about spam again.

So far it has saved me from checking and deleting over 2,000 spam comments, and the count is growing by the hour. Install Akismet to zero out comment spam.

Get it here.

Feedburner Plugin

If you have replaced your blogs RSS feed with a personalized FeedBurner feed (which I recommend you do), you will not want to sort through all the back-end code to manually change the link over.

The plugin will detect all ways to access your feed and redirect them to your FeedBurner feed so you can track every possible subscriber. It will forward for your main posts feed, and optionally your main comments feed as well.

Get it here.

Subscribe to Comments

Provide your readers with a way to keep up to date with the latest comments on a post with this plugin. It will display a small check-box next to the comment field when a user is posting a comment, allowing them to receive new comment updates directly to their inboxes.

Get it here.

Top Commenters

Encourage more discussion from your readers, by displaying their names (linked to their website if desired) and number of comments they have made recently to your sidebar.

Get it here.

SRG Clean Archives

I am using this plugin to run my Archives page. SRG Clean Archives is a rather simple WordPress plugin that will allow you to display your archives in a much “cleaner” format than any other plugin available.

Get it here.

Next up and last in the series before we move onto Blogging 202, is picking a stat tracker to track the stats of your blog.

What plugins have you installed on your blog?

Comments

  1. #1

    Sam Herbert → sherbsblog.com

    Thanks for letting us know about Akismet. I am going to install it for my sister.

  2. #2

    Sam Herbert → sherbsblog.com

    Err take that back… LOL. Her Wordpress already has it :D

  3. #3

    Steffan Williams → www.steffanwilliams.co.uk/blog

    Nice list!

    I’ve just tried playing with Top Commenters plugin but I still can’t get it to work.. Even if I have :

    “filter_users” => “Administrator”, “Steffan Williams”, “admin”, “steffanwilliams”,

    it still lists me in the top commenters. If it’s really that much hassle, I think I’ll just drop that one!

  4. #4

    Ryan → www.appleication.com

    On my site I have a system whereby reader’s essentially have to have “an account” to show their comments, so when they post their first comment, they will get an email to activate their account (and the comment) and once they have activated their account, they never have to do it again (as long as they use the same details).

    I am yet to get any spam comments, however I seem to get a lot through my email (well webmaster@ not my main one), but I don’t really want to block that account.

    Do you get much spam through on (mt) Glenn?

  5. #5

    Stefaan → www.istm.be

    I’m using the flickrRSS plugin to display my latest photos from flickr. WP-Tiger-Admin from Steve Smith for a cool adminstration area :-) . WP-Polls for polls, WP-contactform for a contactform and WP-postratings so that readers can give a rating on certain articles.

    Links:

    flickrRSS: http://eightface.com/
    WP-Tiger-Admin: http://orderedlist.com/
    WP-contactform: http://ryanduff.net/
    WP-polls & WP-postratings: http://www.lesterchan.net/blogs/

    Thanks for the Top Commenters plugin! Great tip.

  6. #6

    Henry → vaguelyinteresting.com

    I use flickrss and Tiger Admin. Great plugins!

  7. #7

    wph

    Can you install plugins if you use the wordpress site instead of your own?

  8. #8

    DeathAxe → blog.deathaxe.net

    I use Spam Karma 2 to fight spam. THe Google Analytics plugin is really useful to track visitors for free. WP Lightbox is a simple JS to load images.

    SK2: http://unknowngenius.com/blog/wordpress/spam-karma/

    Google Analytics: http://www.semiologic.com/software/google-analytics/

    WP Lightbox JS: http://zeo.unic.net.my/notes/wp-lightbox-js-wordpress-plugin/

  9. #9

    DeathAxe → blog.deathaxe.net

    Glenn: wich plugin do you use to display the Related Posts?

  10. #10

    Steffan Williams → www.steffanwilliams.co.uk/blog

    @ DeathAxe:

    Glad you asked that last question - I meant to and it completely slipped my mind!

    What plugin is that? =P

  11. #11

    Josh → maconlyreview.wordpress.com

    Another great post, very informative and helpful. Akismet is installed on my blog and it’s very good, whilst the Feedburner plugin is one I will check out very soon.

  12. #12

    zzap → zzaps.com

    The Feedburner plugin really is a must. It’s a really great way to let your visitors always upto date; great for all blogs!
    Very informative and helpful post, Glenn; keep it up.

  13. #13

    Jeremy → jeremyfriedland.com

    thanks for the tips

  14. #14

    Sujan Patel → www.sewj.com

    Akismat saved my life

  15. #15

    Glenn Wolsey → www.glennwolsey.com

    It has saved mine too Sujan ;-)

  16. #16

    Are You New to Blogging? | Fighting to Stay Awake → thefightspot.com/2007/03/are-you-new-to-blogging

    [...] 101 - I, II, III, IV, [...]

  17. #17

    Lists of Your Favorite WordPress Plugins « Lorelle on WordPress → lorelle.wordpress.com/2007/02/02/lists-of-your-favorite-wordpress-plugins

    [...] Glenn Wolsey - Blogging 101: Essential Plugins [...]

  18. #18

    anthony → www.vidavee.com

    Great list, here is an addition and an invite for your readers.

    Open beta invitation - Wordpress video plugin - Basic online video CMS right within wp editor.

    Provides upload, transcode, hosting & streaming - by Vidavee.

    http://wordpress.vidavee.com/

    Examples here http://blog.vidavee.com/

    Download http://wordpress.vidavee.com/wpvidavee_latest.zip

  19. #19

    Webmaster Directory » Blog Archive » Mejores plugins para wordpress → master-x.com.ar/2007/04/03/mejores-plugins-para-wordpress.html

    [...] Glenn Wolsey - Blogging 101: Essential Plugins [...]

  20. #20

    razvanr → www.noprimetime.com

    Hey,

    For all you guys out there supporting video content, you can now monetize it free with the NoPrimeTime wordpress plugin. You can also crosspromote your sites if you lack advertisers.

    The plugin can be found here: http://www.noprimetime.com/plugin

  21. #21

    Sohbet → www.nazlichat.com

    Best of luck Jim. I actually find this page pretty interesting from a SEO point of view.

  22. #22

    Mini Storage → www.taiyau.com/2007/about_us_e.htm

    Best of luck Jim

  23. #23

    Jim in Chatham → www.conventnews.org

    I have installed the SRG Clean Archives but have not figured out how to configure it. Any help would be great.

  24. #24

    Great Places to Find WordPress Plugins ‹ The Blog of Chris Thomson → chris24.ca/wordpress/best-places-to-find-wordpress-plugins

    [...] Blogging 101: Essential Plugins (glennwolsey.com) [...]

  25. #25

    Random Link: Favorite WordPress Plugins → www.designkillsme.com/blog/?p=20

    [...] Glenn Wolsey - Blogging 101: Essential Plugins [...]

  26. #26

    tutorialboss.com » Blog Archive » Glenn Wolsey : Blog Archive : Blogging 101: Essential Plugins → tutorialboss.com/photoshop-blog/photoshop-news/glenn-wolsey-blog-archive-blogging-101-essential-plugins

    [...] Glenn Wolsey : Blog Archive : Blogging 101: Essential Plugins Blogging 101: Essential Plugins. Blogging January 5th, 2007. Once you have decided on which theme you are going to use for your blog, you can start … [...]

  27. #27

    SEObie.com » BEST PLACES TO FIND WORDPRESS PLUGINS → www.seobie.com/2008/03/best-places-to-find-wordpress-plugins

    [...] Blogging 101: Essential Plugins (glennwolsey.com) [...]

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