Wordpress Plugins

[shepnerd]

OK, second post in two days as I get my wordpress sites up and running...real happy with the direction things are going, but learning all this stuff is like drinking water from a fire hose.

I was wondering what people are using for wordpress plugins. The last post I see on this was from 2009 on here and I'm assuming things have changed a bit since then.

Any "must haves" I should know about?

 

[Daytona_Guy]

Any "must haves" I should know about?

Here are some that I put on most all of my sites:

• All In One SEO Pack
• Blog Protector
• Clean SEO Slugs
• Fast Secure Contact Form
• nrelate RElated Content
• SEO No Duplicate
• Tweet & Follow (then set up Twitter Account)
• Google XML Site Maps

.

 

[Josh]

That's not a bad list, definitely plus one on the AIO SEO Pack and Google XML sitemaps.

I don't care for the FS contact form (or any of the free ones for that matter). I picked up the developer license for Gravity Forms and really dig it. More flexibility and easier to use.

 

[Guest]

I've had good luck with Contact Form 7 plugin.

Do understand that while many/most plugins are "safe" there are many what can "break a WP site. Indeed, the first rule of thumb when something does not work in WP is to "disable all plugins" and see if that fixes it. Then you enable them one at a time to find which one is causing the issue.

On the sites I do for people (I don't currently market to insurance agents) I use as few plugins as possible preferring to use themes that have features like contact forms or portfolios built-in as a template choice. I only use commercial (non-free) themes from a few vendors whom I know write good code.

YMMV.

Al

 

[Josh]

As far as free contact forms go, Contact Form 7 is pretty great.

I like Premium WordPress Themes, Web Templates, Mobile Themes | ThemeForest for themes.

 

[YouGotMyMoney]

I like Wufoo as a contact/order form.

 

[Guest]

I like Premium WordPress Themes, Web Templates, Mobile Themes | ThemeForest for themes.

Theme Forest is not a theme developer but a department store or "amazon" of themes from many vendors. I don't know how much if any "vetting" they do before they list a particular theme or vendor.

There are lots and lots of excellent theme development houses, some who have a large portfolio of themes they have written.

I am a full partner with a website creation/building service (which I don't market in this venue) and we have standardized on a company called Elegant Themes. Currently we only use their themes... which of course helps us keep cost down (but not really "low" compared to others who market here) by us not having to "know" the internals of several different vendors.

Please understand. We are not endorsing them or promoting them or trying to imply that they are any better than any other company. (They are not.)

Their themes "match" our "style" and our "paradigm" of what we think sites should look like and the kind we like to create for clients... and sites we know from experience will "work" for them.

Every website development company (just as every graphic artist, advertising agency, window dresser, book designer... everyone offering a 'creative' service to the public) has their own 'design philosophy,' their own 'style' and their own 'look and feel.'

Different markets tend to gravitate to different web styles. The small businesses we develop for "do well" with the kind of look/feel that we 'create' using the theme vendor that we have chosen. I'm sure that over time we will add another vendor or vendor (we like the MySiteMyWay portfolio as well as the Woo group) but for now using only one company allows me and our developers to be more creative by only having to know the "engine" of one vendor.


YMMV.

 

[somarco]

Jetpack
Bad Behavior
BulletProof Security
SEO Smartlinks

 

[YouGotMyMoney]

Also, SEO Content HiJack is another good plugin.

 

[enterscope]

Some Good Ones I use on my site ReadEZArchive.com

Zemanta - Add Links/Pics/Tags/Related to Post
Sabre - Spam Protection
WP-Activity - Keeps logs of site activity
Social Login - Facebook/Twitter, etc login
AWCPC Classifieds
BWP GXS Sitemap
Homepage Excerpts - Limit homepage text
Top 10
Ban User by IP
CommentLuv
Custom Dashboard Widget