I haven’t done a WordPress plugin post for some time, so I thought I would introduce you to some of my newer plugins which I have found to work really well on my website. If you want to check out some of my previous plugin posts then take a look at Plugins Your Blog Readers Will Love, and Spread the Luv on your Blog!.
I’ve been using these five plugins for a while now and they have saved me time and made my website function in the way I’d like it to. Below I have taken an extract from each of the plugin websites which gives you an overview of what the plugin does. I have then written a little bit about why I use the plugin and how I think it improves my website.
Broken Link Checker for WordPress
Sometimes, links get broken. A page is deleted, a subdirectory forgotten, a site moved to a different domain. Most likely many of your blog posts contain links. It is almost inevitable that over time some of them will lead to a “404 Not Found” error page. Obviously you don’t want your readers to be annoyed by clicking a link that leads nowhere. You can check the links yourself but that might be quite a task if you have a lot of posts. You could use your webserver’s stats but that only works for local links.
The reason I installed this plugin was because I run and maintain another website and I knew it had a lot of broken links. I tested various software online before I realised there was probably a plugin which did the same. I receive an email whenever a broken link appears within my website, you can easily go and double check the link, amend it or ignore it. I like the way it prompts you instead of you having to manually do a search of your website.
Facebook for WordPress
This WordPress plugin makes your site deeply social by integrating functionality from Facebook.
This is a new addition to my website and one which I wasn’t completely sure about at first. There are lots of features within this plugin, and some of which I am not using. I have opted to use the ‘Like’ button at the top of each post and the ‘Subscribe’ button at the end of each post. The plugin will also publish any new blog posts to my Facebook page wall, and this will be my first post to do this so I will be interested to see how it turns out. One of the options I haven’t opted for is the comments box, and the reason I haven’t (because I think it’s a great way of interacting on Facebook) is because it completely removes the standard comment box on my posts. When I post a comment on a blog, I always opt for the integrated box rather than the Facebook one, unless this is the only option. I did just remove the recommendations option, because I have found a better alternative (see below), but I think it was a great addition.
WordPress Backup to Dropbox
WordPress Backup to Dropbox is a plugin for WordPress that automatically uploads a backup of your entire website, including all files and its database, to Dropbox. It has been created to give you piece of mind that your website is backed up on a regular basis.
Just choose a day, time and how often you wish yor backup to be performed and kick back and wait for your backup to be dropped in your Dropbox!
I’ve had a Dropbox account for some time, so to have this plugin integrated into my account is great. My whole website gets backed-up each morning and goes directly into my Dropbox account. I now set this up as standard on client WordPress sites, because even if I am unable to fix a crashed website at least I’ll have all the files close at hand which means someone can!
WP Greet Box
This plugin lets you show a different greeting message to your new visitors depending on their referrer url. For example, when a Digg user clicks through from Digg, they will see a message reminding them to digg your post if they like it. Another example, when a visitor clicks through from Twitter, they will see a message suggesting them to twit the post and follow you on Twitter. You can also set a default greeting message for new visitors (not matching any referrer URLs) suggesting them to subscribe to your RSS feed.
I came across this plugin while reading another post about plugins, it looked interesting and I thought it was quite good at getting people to share my posts. I’m not sure how well it works in getting people to share, but I quite like the fact it knows where you have come from and reminds you to reshare.
Subscribe / Connect / Follow Widget
Subscribe / Connect / Follow widget for WordPress displays image links (icon buttons) to various subscription services and social networking sites in the blog’s sidebar (or in any widget holder).
To find a plugin which has the full complement of social networking sites all in one place took me quite some time. I tried various plugins, but usually I had to have separate ones for different networks. This one, although you can only have five, is great because you can choose the important ones you want displayed on your website.
As a bonus plugin, check out nrelate Related Content which I only installed today!
Launched in late July of 2010, the nrelate Related Content plugin has become one of the most popular content plugins used by bloggers today. Whether showing internal related links, links to partner content, or sponsored posts, the plugin is a great way to increase page views, reduce bounce rate, and even make some extra cash.
I haven’t had a lot of time to test this one, but taking a look at what it does for each of my blog posts makes me want to include this in my list. I only came across this plugin this morning and installed it immediately. I loved the idea that nice images and recommended reading would be at the bottom of each of my posts. It took a couple of hours to populate, but it seems to be working like a dream now. Do let me know what you think?
I love to try out new plugins, what are your favourite WordPress plugins and why? Let me know in the comments below.
