1. Akismet
Have you had enough of dealing with spam comments? I’m pretty sure we all have! Akismet is one of those WordPress plugins that is a must if your site is being bombarded by spammers. This is exactly what I used to block those comments from showing up before I switched to Disqus. (If you use Disqus, there isn’t a need for this plugin, as Disqus has its own spam filtering.) Akismet offers both free and paid options.
2. Alpine Photo Tile for Pinterest
Show off your love for Pinterest and all of your latest pins with Alpine Photo Tile for Pinterest. There are surely a lot of WordPress plugins that allow you to share your Pinterest activity, but this one is my current favorite. Not only does it look nice and simple, but it also functions well. At the time of publishing this post, you can check it out in my sidebar!
3. Click to Tweet
Make it easy for readers to share a snippet of your blog post with Click to Tweet. Choose the text you want it to display to create it. With the click of a button, your readers have shared your well-crafted quote and a link back to your site. Check it out:
4. Content Views
Content Views is a great way to display some of your latest blog posts. But if I’m lucky, it’s one of those WordPress plugins you’ll never have to see in action on my site. Why? I actually use Content Views on my 404 Error page, which I hope you never stumble upon because it means you’ve clicked a broken link. You can see it in action here.
While there are obviously many ways you can use this plugin, this is a fantastic way to make an error page work for you. I use this in conjunction with the Genesis 404 plugin (only available for Genesis users).
5. Disqus Comment System
The truth is, there aren’t any special features included in the standard WordPress commenting system. It’s pretty lackluster. I prefer to use Disqus because it works well, looks great, and allows people to sign in through multiple platforms in order to comment. It’s as simple as that!
6. Instagram Slider Widget
Show off those gorgeous Instagram photos of yours with a slider widget! This slider will cycle through your latest photos and include the caption as well.
7. MaxButtons
MaxButtons has quickly become one of my go-to WordPress plugins. The thing is, I’m not great with coding. It just isn’t where my skills are! However, MaxButtons makes it insanely easy to create clickable buttons for products, content upgrades, etc. Just give it a shot and I’m sure you’ll like it!
8. Pretty Link
Yeah, bit.ly links are great. We all use them. But if you’ve ever wanted to create a nicer looking link that also used her site name, Pretty Link is one of those WordPress plugins you absolutely need. For example, if you want to link to your YouTube page, you could create a link that was YourSiteName[dot]com/YouTube. It would’t take people to your website, but instead it would send them right to your YouTube page with a branded link that’s short and sweet.
9. Yoast SEO
I’ll admit that I didn’t do SEO well before I installed Yoast. The other plugin I used previously was nothing compared to what Yoast offers. All you have to do is set your focus keyword for the post and Yoast will give you a grade on how well you’ve done. You can see exactly which areas you need to improve to get your post to that “Good” ranking! Yoast makes sure your focus keyword is in your post title, meta description, placed plenty of times throughout the post, and more. You can read more about Yoast and my SEO tips in my free eBook.
