Wordpress Plugins I Use
August 6th, 2008 by John Herman, under Wordpress. 4 Comments
I get asked a lot what Wordpress Plugins I recommend a lot. Here is my first stab at coming up with a list.
SEO Plugins
Permalink Redirect
Ensures consistent formatting of page links in permalinks for good SEO
http://scott.yang.id.au/code/permalink-redirect/
Broken Link Checker
Will deactive links when they become broken
http://w-shadow.com/blog/2007/08/05/broken-link-checker-for-wordpress/
SEO Smart Links
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/seo-automatic-links/
Google XML Sitemaps Generator (links to Google to keep your site up-to-date in the index)
http://www.arnebrachhold.de/projects/wordpress-plugins/google-xml-sitemaps-generator/
Platinum SEO
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/platinum-seo-pack/
All in One SEO Pack (Well Known but recent change in developer … Platinum SEO has some more features)
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/all-in-one-seo-pack/
Comments
Absolute Comments
Allows for a quick way to respond to comments
http://planetozh.com/blog/my-projects/absolute-comments-manager-instant-reply/
Subscribe to Comments
Allows people to get email notifications when new comments appear on a post so they can go back and keep the discussion going
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/subscribe-to-comments/
Comment Relish
Sends email to someone after they comment so you can thank them, etc.
http://www.justinshattuck.com/comment-relish/
Akismet
Most popular Spam for Wordpress (also made by the company that manages the Wordpress project)
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/akismet/
Akismet does have some false positive issues and blacklisting people os you may also want to look at Six Aparts spam filter … it is a nice product also
Typepad AntiSpam
http://antispam.typepad.com/info/get-started.html
RSS Feeds
Feedburner Feedsmith
Redirects your feed to feedburner so you can get stats. Feedburner is a Google product for managing RSS feeds. It is free and you should definitely sign up
http://www.google.com/support/feedburner/bin/topic.py?topic=13252
Managing Content
Flexi Pages Widget
Great if you are going to have Pages links in your sidebar instead of static
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/flexi-pages-widget/
Pagemash
Great Plugin for a WYSYWIG way to order and hide your pages from view
http://joelstarnes.co.uk/pagemash.php
Backend Admin Stuff
Wordpress Automatic Upgrade
A must have .. it will let you automatically upgrade to the latest version of Wordpress
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wordpress-automatic-upgrade/
WP Super Cache
Great Caching plugin that will prevent your site crashing if you get a lot of traffic at once
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-super-cache/
Search Everything
Extends the search to cover more parts. Wordpress used to not even search pages but that has been fixed. This is still a good plugin to have because it extends the search to cover more ground.
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/search-everything/
Favicon Header
Adds a favicon without having to change template code
http://timjoh.com/wordpress-plugin-favicon-head/
Misc Great Tools
Share This
Allows people to bookmark the page on sites like digg as well as email someone about a link
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/share-this/
cformsII
Great form creator
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/cforms/
Next-Gen Gallery
Great photo gallery plugin
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/nextgen-gallery/
Twitter Tools
Notifies Twitter of new blog posts
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/twitter-tools/
Slideshare Plugin
Slideshare.com presentations tend to mess up the code on Wordpress sites. This fixes that and allows you to give it a specific width.
http://yoast.com/wordpress/slideshare/
Viper Video Tags
Video Sharing Sites tend to mess up a Wordpress page also this helps fix that
http://www.viper007bond.com/wordpress-plugins/vipers-video-quicktags/
Wordpress Video Plugin is also a good option
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wordpress-video-plugin/
WP Audio Player
Some people prefer Podpress for podcasts, but I have found it overkill for what I need. Audio Player covers all the things I need,but Podpress is great too if you want to check that out for Audio Podcasts.
Similar Posts
http://rmarsh.com/plugins/similar-posts/
Stats
Wordpress.com Stats
A good second set of stats to have and run
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/stats/
Google Analytics for Wordpress (adds the Google Analytics code to your template without having to put it in manually)
Social Media in Plain English
July 17th, 2008 by John Herman, under client communication, internet marketing, viral marketing. No Comments
Another Great Common Craft Video that really explains what Social Media/Social Networking is and how it works.
SEO Explained for Small Business Owners
April 25th, 2008 by John Herman, under internet marketing, search engine optimization. 1 Comment
Small Business Fuel has a great blog entry from last week that explains Search Engine Optimization in really simple terms.
He covers:
What is SEO and Why You Should Care
Code, URLs, and Crawlability
Content and Keywords
Popularity, Links and PageRank
Should You Pay for SEO Services
Track your Packages with Twitter
April 24th, 2008 by John Herman, under operations, products, tools, twitter, web applications. No Comments
@TrackThis has started on Twitter. Now you can direct message them and updates on your package progress will be sent to you in Twitter. It supports UPS, USPS, DHL, and FedEx.
5 Keys to Using Facebook
April 22nd, 2008 by John Herman, under facebook, products, viral marketing. No Comments
Facebook has released a guide to using Facebook Pages. You may have received a copy from them already if you are using Facebook Pages. Here are their 5 Keys to Using Facebook. (via TechCrunch)
Keys to Using Facebook
1) Make business personal
People primarily use Facebook to share personal information with friends. The more you showcase the human element of your business, your products, and your people, the stronger of an effect it will have on everyone who views it.
2) Update your Facebook Page frequently
Facebook is geared to highlight new information and recent changes. The more often you add new content, the more often people will come back to your Facebook Page. You can also send Updates to your fans to announce in-store events, special promotions, new products, concerts, screenings, or other news.
3) Harness the power of News Feed
The News Feed on users’ home pages tells them what their friends are doing. When users become your fan, News Feed tells their friends and invites them to become fans as well. In turn, this can lead to the friends of their friends finding out about your business through their News Feeds, and so on in a virtuous cycle. News Feed is the key to spreading your message virally on Facebook.
4) Choose the applications that are best for your business
Facebook and its outside developers have built thousands of free applications for businesses, bands, and every other type of organization. Your Page comes with the basics pre-installed, but you can easily add whichever other applications are right for your business. For instance, a restaurant may choose to add an application for online ordering or reservations, while a film may add a cinema-locator so the user can find the nearest screening without ever leaving Facebook. You can even build your own applications. The more useful your applications are to your customers, the faster your fan base will grow.
5) Promote your Page through Facebook Ads
Facebook Ads allow you to reach exactly the audience you want and bring them to your Page. You can choose your audience based on age, gender, geography, educational status, relationship status, and precise interests or keywords. Your ads can be socialized so that users’ interactions are reflected in the ads their friends see, increasingly the virality of your Page. You can run ads both in traditional “banner” locations and in the News Feed. As with your Page itself, the key to success with Facebook Ads is to experiment and iterate on your work.
John’s Note: Of course they are going to recommend doing this. 
I question their ability to target the ads with such a huge ad inventory though. Click here for some evidence.
Facebook experts are all around you: in your family, on your staff, amongst your customers, at your competitors. Don’t hesitate to ask them for advice and to follow their lead when you see a successful strategy at work.
Here is a copy of the full insider’s guide:
Facebook Insider’s Guide to Viral Marketing – Get more documents