I have been using WordPress for my personal blog for three years now, in that time I have tried out and played around with a lot of plugins. I know for sure that half of what I have now I didn’t have in the beginning, didn’t know I would need or even want them. These are my top go to recommended ones. Here are my top 5 WordPress plugins. Oh, and they’re free.
Akismet: keeps the spam comments at bay. While it won’t catch everything, it definitely keeps it at bay.
Broken Link Checker: There is nothing worse than trying to follow a link and it leading no where. You can set it to check every so often, mine is set to every two days. I receive an email telling me what they are. You can also have it inform other authors on your site, and much more.
CommentLuv: Share the love around. When someone comments on your site, a link to their post appears under their comment.
Comment Reply Notification: When you reply to a comment an email is sent to that reader.
Rel Nofollow Checkbox: When you link to another site/post along with the check box to open that link in a new page, you will also have the option to rel=”nofollow” that link. No more adding it to the text, or forgetting it completely.
Pinterest Pin It Buttons for Images: The Pinterest “P” logo appears in the corner of images when your hover over them. Clicking on it enables your readers to easily pin from your website.
My personal favorite plugin for my site is ZipList Recipe Plugin. I enter my recipe with ingredients and instructions, I can add a picture as well, and it is printable. The perfect plugin for me to share my recipes with readers and for them to be able to take them away with them.
Great plugins! I love Yoast, Askimet, Comment Luv, Comment Reply, Smart404 (I moved from .com, so my structure of my links changed), and Super Cache.
These are some great plugins. I’m using them all, although for Pinterest I use the Chrome app in place of a plugin. My latest favorite plugin is Squirrly SEO, it is amazing for writing the best human and Google friendly posts!