wordpress plugins

David Jones · March 11, 2015

A well placed and visible search bar is essential for your website or blog, a visitor who cant see what they are looking for is going to look for where they can search for the page or content they need, if they have to spend more than a few seconds looking for the search bar the chances are that they will lose interest and leave. Multiple this by hundreds or thousands of visitors all leaving your site and this could do serious damage to your website or business! Your search bar is also a treasure trove of user data which can be used to see what your audience is looking for on your site, this information can then be used to refine your content and keep readers engaged and staying on your site all of which result in positives from better time on site signals to Google that can improve your rankings in the SERPs.

WordPress comes with its own search function built in and it does a good job of bringing back search keyword information however its only been since the 3.7 update less than 18 months ago that ranks by relevancy were fixed and also cannot perform searches for specifics such as comments or tags.

Luckily there are many excellent alternatives out there for WordPress both paid and free, here’s a run down of 4 of the best: [Read more…] about 4 Of The Best WordPress Search Plugins

Guest Blogger · April 22, 2013

WordPress is the father of all blogging platforms, at least in terms of usability, functionality, and customization. Of course, there will be some points of contention, but the chances are that the platform will be the one recommended if you ask the question, “Which blogging platform should I use?”

The default templates and settings of WordPress are normally more than good enough. If you have an eye for detail and pay attention to design more than the average person does, you might want to do some tweaking using WordPress plugins, of which there is no lack.

Here are some WordPress plugins that will help you prettify your blog, one way or another.

Vimeography

Arguable one of the best WordPress plugins for video, Vimeography allows bloggers to display video content that will fit the rest of the design without having to deal with workarounds. The result are beautiful posts with elements that blend excellently. The downside is that this obviously works with Vimeo only.

Galleriffic

If you work more with photos as opposed to videos, then the chances are that you want a plugin that will make displaying photos – lots of them – without giving you a headache. For this purpose, Galleriffic is an excellent choice. It’s a jQuery plugin that gives you the power to deal with lots of photos without having to worry too much about bandwidth, and it does look good!

SlideDeck 2

Truth be told, slideshows have received their fair share of flak – and for good reason. Then again, there are sites which continue to use slideshows without suffering for it. If you absolutely must use slideshows on your WordPress site, then you might as well go for a plugin that will not only make it easy on you, but also add to the visual experience of the reader: SlideDeck 2. The plugin has a free version and a premium version. The advantage of the latter is that you get more “lenses” or templates which you can choose from. The free version does give you the option of developing your own to suit your site’s design to a T. The plugin supports a wide variety of content: text, images, video, social media feeds, and even syndicated content.

WPtouch

Mobile is a niche that no blogger can ignore. With more and more users relying on their mobile devices to access information, blogs have to offer a comparable – maybe even better – viewing experience on mobile. You don’t have to be super techie to make this a reality with WPtouch, which basically does the job for you. All you need to do is install it and the plugin will make sure that your site displays properly on mobile browsers.

Slick Social Share Buttons

Social sharing is a must. We all know that, but how many sites have you seen that have horrible social sharing buttons that you just get turned off? It’s a pity if the buttons are what make readers NOT share your awesome content, so it’s best to pay attention to this not-so-little detail. Slick Social Share Buttons is one plugin that looks really clean and simple. I understand that the concept of beauty will differ from one person to another, but it’s difficult to find fault in these buttons.

About the Author
Timothy is a web writer by profession, and he has a strong interest in design. He highly recommends designer mag for those who want to improve their knowledge base on the topic.

Lead image via Softstribe

Guest Blogger · October 18, 2011

Online security is always a topic of hot debate. Not a day goes by where someone isn’t hacked, whether they own a small site or a hugely popular one. The problem is that the more popular your site becomes, the more of a target it can be to those with unsavory intentions.

WordPress websites are often targeted by hackers due to a lack of security. The problem, however, is that there are dozens of great security plugins you could be using to ensure the safety of your layout and contents. Here are 7 to keep in mind. [Read more…] about 5 Great Security Plugins Every WordPress Blog Should Be Using

Guest Blogger · March 24, 2011

As of this writing, the official WordPress plugin repository has just over 13,000 plugins in it. All of these plugins are free and can be easily installed via the WordPress administration panel.With so many plugins out there, one might think that everything that can be created has been and that, as the saying goes, there is nothing new under the sun.

However, there’s no shortage of great plugin ideas out there and still a lot of new ideas for developers to tackle.

With that in mind, here are seven ideas for WordPress plugins that either haven’t been tried, haven’t been implemented in quite the way desired or aren’t available on modern versions of WordPress. [Read more…] about 7 WordPress Plugins that Don’t Exist But Should

Guest Blogger · February 3, 2011

WordPress is one of the most commonly used platforms of blogging, currently supporting a large number of blogs. It is known for its ease of use (you can install and use it even if you don’t have a technical bone in your body) adding quality and distinct features to the blogs, furthermore, the search engine friendly script goes a long way in improving your organic traffic. WordPress plugins are the user friendly web clients, which are used by almost all WordPress users. Live chat WordPress plugin is a great live interaction and customer support tool that facilitates live chat by adding a customizable plugin to your WordPress website. Live chat WordPress plugins are especially beneficial for all e-commerce businesses in a number of ways. Let’s discuss how using a live chat WordPress plugin can help you in making the most of your WordPress site. [Read more…] about Making the Most of Live Chat WordPress Plugins

Susan Gunelius · August 30, 2010

Is the title box always too small for your blog posts? Do you find yourself wishing you could add more details or catchy copy to your blog post titles? Are you tired of adding header tags to the subheadings you create for your blog posts? Or perhaps you just want subheadings that appear directly beneath the title of your live blog posts rather than at the top of the body copy?

If you answered ‘yes’ to any of the above questions, then the SubHeading WordPress plugin is for you!

I tried this plugin for the first time recently, and I love it. It’s useful for clarifying a catchy blog post title or adding some keywords for an SEO boost. You can see it in action on a live blog post below:

And here it is on a blog home page:

Looks good, don’t you think?

The SubHeading plugin is available for free from the WordPress Plugin Directory (just search by “subheading” or by the plugin author’s name from your WordPress dashboard’s plugin installation page or download the SubHeading plugin from the WordPress Plugin Directory.

Once installed, you can follow the SubHeading plugin installation instructions and configure the settings so subheadings are allowed on posts and pages, display in your blog’s RSS feed, and more, as shown below in the SubHeadings Settings configuration page:

Once the plugin is installed and configured, a new area appears in your blog post editor where you can enter a subheading for that post beneath the title box, as shown below:

It’s that easy! What do you think? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.

Susan Gunelius · August 16, 2010

If you want to grow your blog’s audience and you use WordPress.org as your blogging application, then you need to try the five WordPress plugins listed below. They’re easy to use, free, and can have a significant impact on the number of visitors to your blog.

1. Yet Another Related Posts Plugin (YARPP)

The more great content people are exposed to on your blog, the higher the chances are that they’ll find something they like causing them to return to your blog again, share your content with their own online connections, and ultimately, drive additional traffic to your blog. YAARP is a great plugin for automatically including a list of related posts at the end of each of your blog posts. The Link Within widget is another alternative.

2. Tweetmeme Retweet Button

The Retweet button is a must-have for all bloggers who want to increase traffic by making it easy for readers to share your blog posts with their own followers on Twitter. You can add the Retweet button to your blog as a widget or as a WordPress plugin. The TwitThis plugin offers similar functionality.

3. Share This

There are a number of WordPress plugins that make it easy for people to share links to your blog posts through their social web profiles like Facebook, LinkedIn, Digg, StumbleUpon, Twitter, and more. Share This is a popular choice. Others include Sociable and Add to Any.

4. All-in-One SEO Pack

You can use the All-in-One SEO Pack plugin to give your blog posts an SEO boost and drive more traffic from keyword searches on popular search engines like Google.

5. Subscribe to Comments

When you allow people to subscribe to the comments published on a blog post, they receive an email when new comments are added. This drives them back to your blog again to keep up with the conversation and continue participating. The Subscribe to Comments plugin makes it easy for WordPress.org users to allow readers to stay involved in ongoing conversations on their blogs.

What are your favorite WordPress plugins for boosting traffic to your blog? Leave a comment and share your thoughts!

Image: stock.xchng

Susan Gunelius · August 11, 2010

Want to add a forum to your WordPress blog or website? Don’t want to spend a lot of money? Don’t need a lot of highly advanced features?

If you answered yes to these questions, then this is the post for you!

There are a lot of forum scripts and tools to create forums out there. Some are free and some have expensive price tags attached to them. Some offer a simple design and simple functionality while others are jam-packed with every feature you can imagine! Fortunately, there is a forum tool for everyone, and today, I’m going to point you in the direction of three great free options for WordPress users.

1. phpBB

There are tons of forums online that operate on phpBB. It’s free and even comes with a variety of design choices, so your forum doesn’t have to look exactly the same as all the others online. You can see phpBB in action here and here.

2. Simple-Press

Simple-Press is a WordPress plugin, so it’s extremely easy to set it up to work with your blog. It’s not as feature-rich as other forum tools, but it gets the job done. You can see it in action here and here.

3. bbPress

bbPress was created by Automattic, the company behind WordPress, so it makes sense that it integrates seamlessly with WordPress blogs and sites. It doesn’t offer all of the functionality that you’ll find in forum tools like vBulletin (see below), but it gets the job done for simple forums. You can see it in action here and here.

And if you’re willing to spend some money on your forum, then I’d recommend checking out vBulletin, which you can see in action here or here.

Do you manage a forum? What forum script or tool do you use and why? Leave a comment and share your thoughts!

wordpress plugins

4 Of The Best WordPress Search Plugins