Without doubt WordPress is the bogging platform of choice. Whether you are someone who blogs just to let the world know what you are up to, or a large company, or Matt Cutts of Google who writes about lots of stuff Google-related, WordPress is the one to use.
The latest version 3.0 has a number of improvements over previous versions, and to make it even better there are tons of useful plugins. And it is these plugins which make WP just right for your needs as a blogger.
You’ll see lots of useful lists highlighting the Top10 or so WordPress plugins, and these listed ones are an excellent starting point if you are adding to your existing plugins, or creating a new blog. Remember though that the chances are you won’t need all the recommendations. And, even if you do want to install them all, some aren’t yet suitable for the 3.0 version, only for older versions. If you do take a look at a plugin you think might interest you, you will sometimes see this “Warning: This plugin has not been tested with your current version of WordPress.” You can still try to install it, but personally I’d back away and come back another time when any snags have been ironed out.
Users can of course look through many of available plugins on the WordPress blog itself, or by their directory. Some plugins I’ve found useful are the following:
All-In-One-SEO Pack for creating an SEO optimized blog. An alternative is Headspace 2 which some say is actually better, though a little harder to set up.
Sexy Bookmarks are a row of bookmark buttons so that your readers can quickly and easily bookmark your site. You can just choose your own, the most popular, or all if you wish. Great in these days of Social Media.
When your visitors make a comment the Thank Me Later plugin will automatically send an e-mail to them as a “thank you.” Although receiving an email isn’t appreciated by everyone, it seems most people are happy to get one, and it does encourage a return to your blog. There’s one called Akismet which checks comments against Akismet web service to see if they look like spam. It certainly helps moderate your comments. WP Super Cache makes your pages load way faster. That’s good all-round for everyone, not least your users. Finally, to help protect against theft of your content, I like the wp-copyrightpro plugin which helps stop copying by means of right clicking a mouse.
