Last Wednesday’s rescheduled WordCount live chat quickly turned into one big WordPress love fest.
What writers on the chat loved most about WordPress was the umpteen plug ins that are available to make it even better.
Because they asked, I’ve compiled a quick list of the best WordPress plug ins for writers mentioned during the chat. Disclaimer: some of these I use, some I’ve heard of but haven’t tried and some I’d never heard of before Wednesday. I’ll let you know what I think about the ones I’ve used. As for the others, you’re on your own.
If you’re hot for some WordPress plug ins that aren’t on this list, please feel free to leave a comment with the details. With more than 10,200 WordPress plug ins out there, many of which could be adapted by writers and freelancers of other kinds, this is by no means a comprehensive list.
And if you missed the chat, or showed up and had a blast, mark your calendar for the next one: Wednesday, July 28, at 8:30 a.m. Pacific time. My guest will be CarriBugbee, award-winning tweeter, social media marketing strategist, speaker and PR/advertising pro. Carri will take questions about using Twitter in your freelance writing business. Follow along at #wclw.
Here’s that WordPress plug in list, in alpha order:
AP Style Dates and Times – Adds classic Associated Press style to WordPress’ normal dates and times. Designed by a newsperson for newspeople.
Akismet – Spam catcher, from WordPress’ parent company, which goes by the same name. If you’re running a WordPress.com blog it’s automatically installed. Don’t leave home without it.
Broken Link Checker – Monitors blog posts and pages and notifies you if links are broken and images are missing. I use this.
BuddyPress – The new WordPress plug in that makes your blog into a social networking site like Facebook, is also red hot right now, says Ron Doyle, a Denver writer, blog designer and the co-host of the WordPress chat.
Copyright Proof – According to the official description: “automatically Digiproves the content of every published blog post (new or edited). This gives you indisputable proof of the content, and the date and time of publication.”
EditFlow – Scheduling software for WordPress-based content management systems. Although it’s set up to schedule blog posts from multiple authors – like in a newsroom – it could work for a single blogger.
LinkWithin – “A very snazzy” related posts plug in, according to Doyle.
Published Articles Since Last Visit – Displays top articles to visitors based on their last visit.
Query Posts – According to developer Justin Tadlock, Query Posts has “everything you’ll ever need to show posts on your site without touching code.” Doyle adds: “Heck, I think Query Posts could make a cup of coffee if you had the time to work with it.”
RB Internal Links – An easy way to link to posts and pages in your blog.
Scribe – Content SEO plugin by Copyblogger. The Scribe description in the WordPress Plug In Directory: “Think of it as a content optimization assistant that analyzes web pages, blog posts, and online press releases at the click of a button.”
WassUp – Tracks visitors in real time.
What Would Seth Godin Do – Displays different, custom messages to new and returning visitors.
Thanks, Michelle!
Thanks for the links. There are some of this list that are new to me. Off to check off LinkWithin and Published Articles Since Last Visit.
Great list — I’m a recent convert to WordPress from Blogger, so it’s interesting learning about the many plug-ins out there. I especially like the Published Articles Since Last Visit one.
Thanks, for the helpful info and encouragement. I’ll keep watching your posts to keep on learning!
These are great, Michelle. Some other favorites I’m loving right now:
Comment Luv – Commenters have the option of including the last blog post they wrote at the end of their comment.
Apture – Too many cool things to list here, but to summarize, it keeps readers on your site longer in a variety of ways.
Related Posts – Lists related posts from your blog at the bottom of each post.
Amazon Feed- Lists a number (that you specify) of related Amazon items at the bottom of your posts, with your affiliate ID embedded (great for me, since I deal with movies and TV shows).
TweetMeme – Puts a “tweet” button on your posts, to make it easy for readers to tweet or re-tweet.
Basic Facebook Social Plugins – Adds a “like” button at the bottom of each post.
BackType – Brings in comments from other social networks and adds them to your blog posts, either date-stamped and mixed in with the other comments or listed separately at the bottom. So for instance, if someone is commenting on your post/link on Twitter, it’ll list that in your comments section. Still working with this, but like it so far.
Advertisement Management – Offers easy options to add affiliate ad codes in specific places on your blog, i.e. at the bottom of posts, in your footer, above your header, etc.
Let me know if anyone has questions on any of these. You can check them out at http://www.filmgecko.net.
Jane
jane@filmgecko.net
Jane, what a fantastic list – thanks!
Michelle
Great tips! I’m transforming my website to a WordPress site and I’ll use these for sure.
Lisa
This is EXACTLY the info I was looking for tonight, as I sit designing my personal WP website (finally!). This little writer has been lax i getting my act together for my own site. I’m looking forward to trying these out! Just posted this on my company’s FB page, a brilliant resource. I use Akismet and LinkWithin, both very handy. Also mentioned were Comment Luv and Tweetmeme, both excellent, also.
I recently put together a comprehensive list of security, optimization, and usability tips and hacks (many advanced) for WP users. It’s 90+ so I won’t paste the sources, too long. Feel free to drop by for a peek, I hope they help!
http://www.roughridecreations.com/blog/2010/11/essential-wordpress-installation-optimization-security-resources/
Thanks for the link Briana!
MVR
Thanks to Jane Boursaw, I found what I was looking for in
Amazon Feed Lists.
I would also highly recommend the Wp-Greet Box. Great way to get your readers to subscribe/tweet/upvote on Digg/etc. I want to thank you for yet another wonderful article. I am always on the look-out for great WordPress tips to recommend to my own readers. Thanks for taking the time to write this article.I have many of these installed for my own blog. It’s exactly what I was looking for. Truly great post.
Most of these are SEO plugins, not many at all are actually for writers. Not what I was looking for. But, interesting to note that people think this is what writing is now.
I don’t believe this is what people think writing is now. A lot of WordCount readers are journalists or long-time freelancers who’re gradually evolving their businesses and need to understand SEO basics. That post was meant to help them.
Michelle