I’ve been using a WordPress Blog to publish and promote my blog articles for several years now, and one of the features that makes a WordPress Blog so appealing to a marketer is the fact that you can make so many essential tweaks for SEO purposes and for monetization with the use of WordPress Plugins.
Now it’s important that you not use a million plugins, because they will slow down the speed of your blog; And then of course there are some plugins that are better than others, which leads me to my list. These are what I consider the Top 21 Essential WordPress Plugins that every article marketer should be using on their blogs. This isn’t some random list to get people to read this article – these are the exact plugins that I use on my site that I see have been key to sending more organic traffic to my articles.
There are about 14 plugins that I have eliminated from this list since I have started using the Thesis WordPress template (a super SEO friendly template), so I highly recommend that you use the template if you want optimal SEO results. So without further ado, here’s my Top 21 WordPress Plugins…
1. Akismet Plugin
This plugin weeds out comment spam. Everyone gets this plugin with a wordpress blog, the only thing is that you need to go to WordPress.com to get an API key to use it. Make sure you do. This plugin works fantastically. As of this writing, Akismet has kept over 5000 spammy comments off my site – and when I have checked them, they were all definitely spam. They never missed the mark!
3. Amazon Widgets Shortcodes Plugin
5. Comment Relish Plugin
If you don’t have the time to respond to every commenter on your site, this plugin helps by sending an automated “thank you” email note to users after the FIRST comment on your blog. Although it’s automated, you still get to write a personalized note, so it really gives your site a personal touch. Not everyone does this – so you will stand out. (I use this in addition to replying to the commenter on my blog)
7. Enhanced Recent Posts Plugin
This plugin enhances the built-in recent posts widget in your WordPress blog. Instead of limiting you to the # of posts, you can determine what categories etc. the posts are pulled from. Important for site stickiness.
18. WordPress.com Stats
This plugin will track views, post views, referrers, and clicks. Gives you a quick look at what posts are more popular which can help you write more relevant content for your readers. This plugin also requires a WordPress.com API key. You can use the same one you established with Askismet.
19. WordPress Tweaks
Adds a variety of useful options and settings for different sections of your blog such as admin, comments, SEO, security, etc.
Is your site optimized for the search engines?
Lisa Angelettie
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James Mann says
I love WordPress because of all the available plugins.
I like the idea of tracking what visitors search for on my blogs using the Lijit Search Plugin. This one is new to me so I will check it out as soon as I finish the rest of your article.
I don’t do much with Twitter but I keep coming back to it so I will take a look at TweetBacks as well.
.-= James Mann´s last blog ..Squeeze Page Manager-Learn the Secrets to Managing Your Squeeze Page! =-.
James Mann says
I love WordPress because of all the available plugins.
I like the idea of tracking what visitors search for on my blogs using the Lijit Search Plugin. This one is new to me so I will check it out as soon as I finish the rest of your article.
I don’t do much with Twitter but I keep coming back to it so I will take a look at TweetBacks as well.
.-= James Mann´s last blog ..Squeeze Page Manager-Learn the Secrets to Managing Your Squeeze Page! =-.
AnnaHopn says
Hello,
lisaangelettieblog.com – da best. Keep it going!
AnnaHopn
AnnaHopn says
Hello,
lisaangelettieblog.com – da best. Keep it going!
AnnaHopn
lindaannbowling (CoachLinda-An says
Top 21 WordPress Plugins For Article Marketing – http://lisaangelettieblog.com/?p=105 Some good tips in this.
tarable says
Lisa, thanks for your support and for including Lijit on your list of recommended WordPress plugins. (Personally, I love these lists because I always discover something new and useful!)
If any of your readers have questions about Lijit, feel free to send them my way. I’m tara [at] lijit [dot] com.
.-= Tara Anderson´s last blog ..Some Brands are more Lijit than others. =-.
Lisa Angelettie says
Absolutely Tara. I just LOVE lijit and wouldn’t be without it on any of my sites:) Keep up the great work!
Tara Anderson says
Lisa, thanks for your support and for including Lijit on your list of recommended WordPress plugins. (Personally, I love these lists because I always discover something new and useful!)
If any of your readers have questions about Lijit, feel free to send them my way. I’m tara [at] lijit [dot] com.
.-= Tara Anderson´s last blog ..Some Brands are more Lijit than others. =-.
Lisa Angelettie says
Absolutely Tara. I just LOVE lijit and wouldn’t be without it on any of my sites:) Keep up the great work!
web graphic design says
I would like to share about plugin Aizatto’s . This plugin allows you to show a list of related post either after or before each of your post. This will increase the stickiness of your blog. A must have if you want people to drill down into the depths of your blog.
Lisa Angelettie says
Thanks for the addition!
web graphic design says
I would like to share about plugin Aizatto’s . This plugin allows you to show a list of related post either after or before each of your post. This will increase the stickiness of your blog. A must have if you want people to drill down into the depths of your blog.
Lisa Angelettie says
Thanks for the addition!
Jinny says
Thank you! I would now go on this blog every day!
Jinny
Jinny says
Thank you! I would now go on this blog every day!
Jinny
Get Ex Back says
These are what I consider the Top 21 Essential WordPress Plugins that every article marketer should be using!
Ex Back says
well,Do you have any other site that you would highly recommend to the group here? Happy Blogging
Kristina says
Great compiled list..Thank you so much for the article..However, I just want to remind you that there are chances for your blog to get slow if you use too many plug-ins. Just install only relevant ones.
lisaangelettie says
Absolutely Kristina. Only relevant ones. But I use all of these and my
blog moves pretty good. The bigger problem sometimes seems to be
social media widgets, etc. They really slow a blog down.
Kai Druhl - Internet Coach says
Hello Lisa, thanks for this list. Are you using any Facebook plugins? Or do you post directly to your page wall? That appears to be most effective. What are your thoughts on that?
Lisa Angelettie says
Thanks for visiting Kai.
I use Ping.fm for my automatic posting – although their RSS feed feature is down for maintenance right now.
The Nerdy Nurse says
plugins are my guilty blogging procrastination dirty secret… guess the secrets out now
Bella Huong says
Thank you so much, Lisa. Its very helpful!