5 (More) Kickass WordPress Plugins You Need On Your Blog

WordPress plugins are something that I love to use and write about. I originally listed some kickass plugins over on my blog. I want to add to that list here.

Why? Because WordPress plugins are just that good and there are tons of them out there for us bloggers!

Let me first say this: If you are reading this and your blog is not on a self-hosted WordPress platform – come on, what are you waiting for?

Can you say Google Blogger mess?

With your own WordPress.org platform and your own hosting, you have all the control and stability you need as a blogger.

Okay – let’s get to it!

Here is my list of 5 (more) WordPress plugins every blogger should be using:

1. WP Greet Box: This plugin allows you to display a different greeting message to your visitor depending on their referrer url.

So if they come to your blog from Digg, they get a message to Digg the submission. If they come from Twitter, they get the opportunity to retweet your post.

I use it to display a message to new visitors to my blog inviting them to subscribe by RSS or email.

The plugin is easy to customize (your message can be displayed at the top or bottom of each post) and a great way to interact with your site visitors.

Greet your visitors – it’s kinda like being a Walmart straight from your blog

2. Jetpack for WordPress.com: Thanks goes to Jackie Lee of it’s a wham life for introducing me to this very cool plugin!

Are you sometimes confused by all the information found in your Google Analytics reports? Yeah – me too.

Jetpack is a feature rich WordPress plugin that will supply you with simple, concise stats about your blog traffic. Once you have setup a WordPress.com account (don’t be alarmed, you will never have to setup or use that account – you just need it to register the plugin) your site statistics will display right in your WordPress dashboard.

I use it in conjunction with Google Analytics – it helps me to better understand who is coming to my blog and how they got there in the first place.

Jetpack is actually a “pack” of various tools that you can use – It’s so feature rich that I have only tackled the “stats” portion of it at this point.

Try it – I’m betting you will love it!

3. Viper Video Quicktags: Tired of copying and pasting the embed HTML from sites like YouTube? Then this plugin is for you.

Viper Quicktags installs new buttons In your WordPress edit box that allow you to upload videos to your blog with just one click.

The plugin supports video sites like: YouTube, Google Video, Vimeo, Blip.tv and more. See Danny’s post on how to embed a video on your blog post to learn more about this ever so cool plugin.

4. nRelate Related Content Plugin: This is a recent find of mine after using Yet Another Related Post plugin and LinkWithin for displaying related posts on my blog.

Three words: I love it!

The plugin pulls related content based on your post and displays them at the bottom with image thumbnails (you have to place an image on your post for this to happen, but who doesn’t display images these days?).

nRelate has a blog with tons of information and is very interactive on Twitter.

It’s all about keeping folks on your blog as long as possible these days, nRelate plugin gives you every chance to make that happen!

5. Twitter @Anywhere Plus Plugin:

Dear friends – you have got to get and use this plugin! Do you want your readers to have the easiest possible time retweeting your stuff? Twitter @Anywhere Plus plugin is exactly what you need to make that happen!

The plugin allows you to easily add the Twitter development tool @Anywhere to your blog. You will first need an account at Twitter’s developers site .

After installing the plugin and activating it, go to http://dev.twitter.com/, open an account (free) and obtain your API Key. Enter the API key into the plugin settings, design how the RT box will look and what it will say, click “Save Settings” and you will have a box at the bottom of each post that looks something like this:

At that point you readers will be able to effortlessly retweet your post. The more simple we make it for our audience, the better we can syndicate our stuff.

Did I mention I LOVE this plugin?

Your Turn!

Are you using any of these plugins on your blog? What other plugins can you not live without? What is your #1 favorite of all time WordPress plugin?

image: Titanas

Buffer

http://www.carlstips.com Carl Coddington

I am going to RT right after this comment. I love love love that idea.
- http://frankdickinson.me Frank Dickinson
  
  Thanks Carl!
http://www.marianneworley.com Marianne Worley

Hi Frank,

I’ve been using the JetPack stats plugin since I moved my blog over from WP.com. It gives you a good overview without having to leave your blog dashboard. I also need to look at the other plugins included in JetPack–I’m sure there are some others I could be taking advantage of!

I’ve been seeing blogs with the nRelate plugin and really liked it. I just installed it and can’t wait to set it up. Has the Twitter @Anywhere plugin increased your re-tweets? I’m very curious how much more effective it is than the standard Twitter or Tweetmeme buttons.

Excellent suggestions as always Frank! Hope everything is OK. Been thinking about you and your family.
- http://frankdickinson.me Frank Dickinson
  
  Thanks Marianne for the comment and the thoughts!
  
  I’m the same with Jetpack – need to look into it more – looks like a lot there to use.
  
  I’ve only been using @Anywhere Plus for about a week – so I haven’t had much time to measure it – it just makes sense though that it should increase retweets – we will see.
  
  Thanks again!
  - http://www.marianneworley.com Marianne Worley
    
    The nRelate plugin is fab! It really adds visual interest to my posts and I’m already seeing more views of related posts than I was with YARPP. Thanks again for the great tips Frank.
http://www.social-tango.com Billy Delaney

Hello Frank.
Good stuff and thanks.
I will be checking out all of them.

I really like plug ins, and always go looking for the ones that I see other blogs using that I like,or realise that I need to use myself.

Good indeed Billy
- http://frankdickinson.me Frank Dickinson
  
  Thanks Billy and glad to see you here!
  
  Plugins definitely extent the reach and functionality of the WordPress platform – especially in the social media arena.
  
  Let me know when you find some cool ones!
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http://www.creamchargers.org.uk Sam

I like the idea of the plugin that displays a different message depending upon the referrer – I think that could really surprise visitors – I would certainly be thinking “how do you know where I came from” and what else do you know about me ….?
- http://frankdickinson.me Frank Dickinson
  
  Displays our super ninja powers eh Sam?
http://organizedassistant.com Janet Barclay

I’ve been using Contextual Related Posts and have been relatively happy with it, but nRelate is much better! Thank you for sharing this great information.
- http://frankdickinson.me Frank Dickinson
  
  My pleasure Janet!
  
  I really like nRelate – and I think more than anything, I really like that they are present on Twitter and stand solidly behind their plugin.
  
  Thanks for stopping by!
http://www.saraharrow.co.uk/punting-your-blog-posts-all-around-the-web-is-cool-right/ Sarah Arrow

I am thinking about using @Twitter Anywhere, I have one blog with it installed and am thinking I may now actually use it
- http://frankdickinson.me Frank Dickinson
  
  I haven’t been using it long Sarah – but i follow a couple of blogs that use it and they speak wonders about it.
  
  Let me know how it goes for you!
http://bobwp.com Bob Dunn

Hey Frank, great list. As i’m always bobbing around in waves of plugins, it’s great to focus on a select few.

I do need to revisit the related content plugin, as I had tried it back sometime and had issues with it, sounds like they have really worked out the bugs.

I love Viper Video Quicktags, sure beats the heck out of the default WP video embed, so much easier. I also find his plugin jQuery Lightbox For Native Galleries. It’s a great way to build a decent slide show using the gallery function built into the media library.

Will certainly check out the other two — as your recommendations come highly rated : )
- http://frankdickinson.me Frank Dickinson
  
  Thanks Bob!
  
  This is why I write these kind of posts – because I ALWAYS learn new stuff = I had no idea about the Lightbox For native Galleries plugin. I’ll be checking that out later today!
  
  Thanks again for stopping by and for the great tip!
  - http://bobwp.com Bob Dunn
    
    You bet.
    
    And forgot to comment on Jetpack.
    
    First I agree on the Stats for WordPress vs. Google Analytics. GA is an awesome tool, but can be overwhelming… I just did a corp training yesterday that took a bit over two hours just going over GA basics… so for most people WordPress stats is a better route.
    
    And although I think Jetpack is a pretty awesome plugin, what one has to remember, though most of these are only available on WordPress.com, and now you have the opportunity to have them on your self-hosted site, you are essentially activating 8 plugins. Now if you are only wanting to use one or two, I can only wonder if, since all are activated, you are using plugins you don’t really need. And when you have a site with a lot of plugins, we all know that they can slow things down. Just a thought. : )
    - http://frankdickinson.me Frank Dickinson
      
      You are spot on here with JetPack and the load it can put on your site. I am actually working on my site speed now. It has been running slower, but that was even before I added Jetpack.
      
      Thanks for sharing a top-notch insight with the community Bob!
http://www.trishparr.com/ Trish Parr

Hi Frank
@DannyBrown’s tweet sent me here… so Tweet @Anywhere is working for you already ! What a cool way to offer blog readers to be able to RT a post… WOW!

And though I don’t find Google Analytics all that difficult to understand, I do like the idea that Jetpack for WordPress.com plugin makes this information accessible right in the WordPress dashboard.

Awesome list of plugins!

Thanks,
Trish

PS: I have Dickinsons in my paternal family… Genealogy is my passion!
- http://www.trishparr.com/ Trish Parr
  
  Hey Frank,
  
  I went to Add New under Plugins and typed in “WP Greet Box” then clicked on Install Now… and it shows has having been Installed… yet, when I click on Plugins, it is NOT listed.
  
  Is it supposed to work like that?
  
  I couldn’t uninstall it if I wanted to. I’ve even signed out and signed back in again thinking it might be a wp hiccup… but nope, it’s still not listed in my Plugins.
  
  Trish
  - http://frankdickinson.me Frank Dickinson
    
    Hey Trish,
    
    If you have it installed and activated ->go to your left hand sidebar to Settings. You will see :”WP Greet Box” there (they are alphabetized). Click on it there and setup as you would like.
    
    Let me know if you have problems.
    Frank
    - http://www.trishparr.com/ Trish Parr
      
      Thanks Frank… I found it (daah!) on page 2, and I’ve activated it now. I’m most impressed with the Viper’s Video Quicktags plugin, as it will easily replace a more expensive plugin that I’ve been recommending… so thanks for this goodie too!!!!
      - http://frankdickinson.me Frank Dickinson
        
        Glad you found it!
        
        I LOVE Viper’s plugin – good stuff.
- http://frankdickinson.me Frank Dickinson
  
  Those Dickinson’s are everywhere
  - http://www.trishparr.com/ Trish Parr
    
    They sure are …and very special people too {{{HUGS}}}
http://markharai.com Mark Harai

Man, you’re such a tech-head Frank – thanks for sharing these plugins – I will check them out : )

I hope all is going well for you and the family.
- http://frankdickinson.me Frank Dickinson
  
  LOL – we will have to Skype one day soon and I’ll get you all setup. make a list!
  
  Thanks bud!
http://www.GirlsBestFriendandCoBlog.com TheFashionistachic

Thanks a million. I was searching for help in adding videos. I hope this will help.
Thanks again
- http://frankdickinson.me Frank Dickinson
  
  Enjoy!
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http://www.thomasjfrank.com/ thomasfrank09

I’m really interested in that last plugin. I think I could do some cool stuff with it. Thanks!