Comments on: What WordPress Plugins Are Vital To The Success Of Your Blog?

By: Fajar

Fajar — Sun, 22 Jul 2012 16:05:47 +0000

Im using just 5 plugin.

– Woocommerce plugin
– Doc Presser plugin
– Google XML sitemap generator
– SEO smartlinks
– W3 total cache.

By: Laura

Laura — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 15:57:12 +0000

This post is getting a bit dated. WordPress has a contact form of it’s own now. No need for the extra plugin.

I don’t know if you read these old comments… but WP has a new feedback form you can add to your individual post. Have you tried that yet? I only noticed it on the latest update but haven’t found a real use for it so far.

By: Dustin

Dustin — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 02:10:34 +0000

I’m still curious on people’s thoughts regarding all the security plugins out there. There are people/blogs that say to not use more than 3-4 total WP plugins, and then other people who say you should be running 5+ security plugins, in addition to other plugins. Are security plugins needed?

By: Robnonstop

Robnonstop — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 02:08:39 +0000

Just found this post about replacing plug-ins with code snippets: http://speckyboy.com/2010/12/09/20-plugin-replacing-tutorials-tips-snippets-and-solutions-for-wordpress/

By: yvonne

yvonne — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 05:32:21 +0000

I’ve tried the WP Cache and Super Cache plug-in but it seem so complicated to configure. Actually, the super cache broke my site so I had to un-install it. Are there any other great options?

By: Danny Brown

Danny Brown — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 03:37:33 +0000

In reply to Tommy Walker.

I was one of the biggest vanilla WP comments advocate for the longest time, but Livefyre is the way comments are meant to be.

– SEO Friendly
– Real-time interactions (great for live Q&A sessions)
– Socially enabled (bring your Facebook and Twitter friends direct to the convo)
– Excellent spam filter due to registration (though you can still have guest posting)
– SocialSync (true social media conversations from Twitter and Facebook into your comments)
– LinkBack (Livefyre’s version of CommentLuv)

These are just a few reasons to check Livefyre out.

By: Mark

Mark — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 20:13:09 +0000

I forgot a couple we also use:
1. Slick contact forms – EZ slide out forms for every page/post quick contact.
2. Share this by lockerz – Nice clean fast sharing tool for your site posts/pages.

By: Mark

Mark — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 20:10:28 +0000

Great post! I like your choices for plugins but here are some we have had great luck with:

1. Antispam Bee – Stops almost 100% of spam with no fuss.
2. WordPress Firewall 2 – Helps keeps attacks from damaging the site and lets you know by email it has fought off an attack.
3. Captcha – Love this for stopping the fake comments problem.
4. Kstats Reloaded – Not perfect but food for some stats info.

Thanks again:-)

By: Paul G.

Paul G. — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 18:53:28 +0000

As I see it, there are only 5 Essential plugins on any WordPress site.

By essential, I mean they are needed for the health and performance of your site. Not to provide “user” functionality.

Essential:
Broken Link Checker
Growmap Anti Spambot Plugin (if you allow comments)
Redirection
W3 Total Cache
WordPress SEO (better SEO services than thesis + XML Sitemaps)

Good Functionality:
Configure SMTP (if you need good email support) – no impact your user experience
Q and A (if you need FAQs)
Relevanssi (for good search)
Simple Lightbox (for displaying in-post images nicely)
WPtouch (if you want a quick mobile solution)
WordPress Twitter Bootstrap CSS (for using Twitter Bootstrap if you need)

The last one I know wont impact your user experience because I wrote it and it’s built with minimizing any impact on performance in-mind.

Cheers,
Paul.

By: Paul G.

Paul G. — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 18:33:52 +0000

In reply to Clifford.

Yoast SEO works great with Thesis – all my Thesis sites use Yoast and they all work. Probably a conflict with another plugin.

Further, just to clarify on plugins – a plugin doesn’t slow down your site badly if it’s written well, and certainly not if it doesn’t load anything on the front end.

Choose your plugins very wisely is the key.