My New WordPress Plugins
21 November, 2007 - Blogging - 8 Comments
After the recent small changes to my design, I decided to add some plugins to the blog. Here is an updated list of all the plugins that I make use of:
Adsense Deluxe - Allows for easy integration of Google Adsense ads in to posts on the blog.
Akismet - The default spam protection with WordPress. It does an excellent job of catching spam, although I have had some trouble with it catching legit comments. I make sure to regulary check the comments that Akismet catches to make sure there are no legit comments in there.
BloggingZoom Vote Button - Lets people Zoom any posts I have submitted to the social networking site, BloggingZoom.
Threaded Comments - I like to interact with my readers and I like my readers to interact with each other. The threaded comments allows for discussion to flow easily and loigically.
Comment Relish - This sends a predefined automated response to users who comment for the first time. This is one of my favourite plugins. I’ve lost count of the amount of readers who have emailed me after receiving this predefined response. To increase RSS readership and spark interaction between blog author and blog reader, there’s not a better plugin!
For your reading pleasure and for your use should you download this plugin, here is the email that is sent from my blog when somebody comments for the first time:
“Hey [Reader_Name],
I wanted to send a quick email to thank you for your comment.
I invite you to contact me at any time. Just reply to this email to get in touch. I also hope you’ll consider subscribing to my RSS feed ( http://feeds.feedburner.com/jamieharrop ) so you never miss a post!
I look forward to reading more of your comments and speaking with you in the near future.
Warm Regards,
Jamie
Do Follow - Disables the “rel=nofollow” attribute in comments.
FeedBurner Feedsmith - Changes the default WordPress RSS feeds so they redirect to FeedBurner. I would imagine some people have subscribed to my RSS feed using the feed icon in their browsers address bar, hence they haven’t been added to my FeedBurner stats. With this plugin, the icon in the address bar now uses FeedBurner.
Feed Footer - This plugin allows you to add a footer to posts that displays only in the readers RSS feed. It will not display on the Web site. Many bloggers use this to display a copyright paragraph. Although I have it installed, I don’t use it yet. However, I will be using it in the near future to give my RSS subscribers some special, preferred content.
Get Recent Comments - This shows the recent comments and recent trackbacks. Always helpful for giving a little back to your readers.
KB Linker - Allows you to automatically change specific words so they are linked to a site of your choice. Right now, I have the acronym “RSS” set to link to my feed.
Landing Sites - This determines the key phrases that were using in a search engine to find your blog, and then displays a list of posts related to those phrases. This could be handy to help boost the pages per visit for search engine traffic. Again, this is one I have installed but I’m not using it yet. Once I start using it I’ll let you know if I see any change in pattern of search engine traffic.
Live - This lets you watch live activity of your visitors, comments, bots and RSS feed clicks. I find it invaluable for tracking the paths my visitors take through my site.
Show Top Commentators - Thanking the readers who contribute to the blog through comments is always a wise move.
Subscribe Remind - This adds a sentence at the end of each post reminding readers to subscribe to the RSS feed.
Subscribe to Comments - Allows users to receive email notifications of new comments on posts they have subscribed to. This is a great way to keep readers coming back.
WP-Notable - Adds links for several social networking sites at the bottom of each post.
WP-Super-Cache - I use super cache to help improve the loading speed of the blog. Many bloggers, especially those with large amounts of traffic, have noted a huge increase in speed. I gathered I would give it a try to see if I notice any advantages.
That’s my list of plugins. I added most of those last night and they were all simple to install and configure. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
Now I’m going to watch England in the soccer European Championship. Our most important game in years in a competition second in importance only to the World Cup, and we’re losing 2-0. If we lose, we go out of the cup. Wish us luck! We’re going to need every last bit of luck in the next 45 minutes, as is the coach whose job is looking set to be made vacant should we lose!
Edit: Off topic. Whoever wished us luck, I thank you. I thank you so much. We are now drawing 2-2 which means if the score stays like this we go through to the next stage of the European Cup. 
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Posted on 21 November, 2007 by Jamie Harrop
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Good list of plugins. I’d also suggest ‘Google Analyticator’, might also want to look into the simple (but useful) ‘Enforce http://www. Preference’ for your site (helps with consistent backlinks and SEO).
Also terribly sorry about the loss http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/internationals/7103110.stm …
Google Analyticator looks fantastic, Andrew. At first I thought it was your basic plugin to add the Analytics code to the site, but then I saw it has automated tracking of outbound links. Awesome! I’ll take a closer look tomorrow and then install it.
While researching plugins yesterday, I read about the one to enforce the www in the URL. I kind of glanced past it thinking I didn’t need it, but I suppose it would make sense. I’ll install that too. Thanks!
Yeah, the result was gutting. One minute I was screaming and jumping up and down, the next minute I was speechless. Still, I’ll look at the positives… it was the most exciting football game I’ve watched in a long time.
[...] modules and features, I thought I would today share some of my favourite WordPress plugins but Jamie Harrop already beat me to it. Instead of reinventing the wheel, I will add a couple of my own thoughts and plugins. If [...]
Good list Jamie, I use a few of those plugins already but I can see a few that would be very useful.
Hi there Jamie,
Great blog/vlog!
I enjoyed it.
I am one of the co-founders of http://www.YoungEntrepreneur.com and wanted to drop you a quick line!
Keep up the informative posts!
All the best,
Adam T.
http://www.YoungEntrepreneur.com
Hey Adam,
Thanks for stopping by and for the kind words.
I have an account on the forums over at your site, although I never really got in to the swing of posting. Maybe I’ll see if I can fit it in again, amongst the many other forums that I visit.
Ah you beauty, just started my own blog up again and I would probably not have found out about half of these plugins if it wasn’t for you, thanks very muchly indeed!
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