WordPress is arguably the first choice of Google. And it provides a significant competitive advantage in the search engines.
If you are already using WordPress as your website content management system of choice, then you probably know a bit of customisation is necessary. The right mix of plugins can help you get found faster in Google and be an easy to use website for your visitors.
These are the best WordPress plugins in our experience. Only after trial, error, headaches and heartaches with hundreds of plugins over the life of our many WordPress sites, do we compile this recommended list.
BackType Tweetcount
The BackType Tweetcount plugin shows the number of tweets your posts get and allows users to retweet. Gives visitors a great idea how popular your content is; and a quick way to share it.
Contact Form 7
Just another contact form plugin. Simple but flexible.
Dagon Design Sitemap Generator
Generates a fully customizable sitemap. Many web users navigate sites in this manner.
FeedBurner FeedSmith
Originally authored by Steve Smith, this plugin detects all ways to access your original WordPress feeds and redirects them to your FeedBurner feed so you can track every possible subscriber. Now I am not a fan of the feedburner interface, as it is a usability nightmare. But hey, it is free after all.
Google Talk Widget
Google Talk Widget allows you to chat with customers directly from your website. You must be signed into your gmail account to be “available” for chat. Very cool.
Google XML Sitemaps
This plugin will generate a special XML sitemap which will help search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing and Ask.com to better index your blog. This is a very important function if you want to be found on search results.
Multi-level Navigation Plugin
A WordPress plugin which adds a multi-level CSS based dropdown/flyout/slider menu to your WordPress blog. Very nice stuff by our fellow Dunedinite Ryan Hellyer.
Really Simple CAPTCHA
Really Simple CAPTCHA is a CAPTCHA module intended to be called from other plugins. Easy to use.
ShareThis
Let your visitors share a post/page with others. Supports e-mail and posting to social bookmarking sites. There is a link right from the plugin to the configuration options, which is very user-friendly. Other plugins force me to search the WordPress dashboard menu to find their configuration page, which is frustrating.
SI CAPTCHA Anti-Spam
Adds CAPTCHA anti-spam methods to WordPress on the comment form, registration form, login, or all. This prevents spam from automated bots. Also is WPMU and BuddyPress compatible. There is also a link right from the plugin to the configuration options.
Social Media Widget
Adds links to all of your social media and sharing site profiles. Icons come in 3 sizes, 4 icon styles, and 4 animations. Configuration is linked directly from the plugin list and I recommend donating a few bucks to his development costs as Brian gives great customer service and has done fabulous work on this plugin.
Subscribe Remind
Give your readers a little reminder to subscribe to your blog’s feed at the end of each post. I love this one because it is an automatic “call to action” at the end of every post.
Subscribe To “Double-Opt-In” Comments
Allows readers to receive notifications of new comments that are posted to an entry, with Double-Opt-In Feature.
Viper’s Video Quicktags
Easily embed videos from various video websites such as YouTube, DailyMotion, and Vimeo into your posts. Clients who edit their own websites love this one!
W3 Total Cache
The fastest and most complete WordPress performance plugin. Dramatically improve the speed and user experience of your blog by adding: page caching, database caching, minify and content delivery network (CDN) functionality. This definitely works well.
WPtouch iPhone Theme
A plugin which formats your site with a mobile theme for the Apple iPhone / iPod touch, Google Android, Palm Pre and other touch-based smartphones. If you do not run this plugin then you are ignoring potentially billions of smartphone visitors.
Cart66 shopping cart plugin
Believe me when I say there are free shop carts out there that can cause you so much lost time and frustration. Cart66 is the best paid WordPress shopping cart plugin with fast, professional support and very easy implementation. It is worth the $89! (yes, we are proudly affiliated)
[GWA] AutoResponder
A FREE plugin to add an Double Opt-In Auto-Responder and (multi) List Builder to your WordPress Weblog. We use this on just about every site as building a email list is a critical marketing endeavour.
WordPress SEO by Yoast
The most effective, efficient SEO plugin. This does so much I cannot even list the benefits.
Askimet
For spam. Has saved us from 1,000′s of junk comments. Obviously, this default plugin is a requirement.
