How to choose the best plugins?

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Permalink Reply by Ivo "I.C." Jackson on September 17, 2009 at 9:28pm

Hi Karen,

One way to find the best plugins is to perform a little research on the web. There are lots of Wordpress suppport blogs (although most of them are very geeky), and all of these blogs sooner or later post about plugins. If, for example, you were to use the search terms "SEO plugins Wordpress" in your favorite search engine, you would be sure to find some expert opinoons on which ones are the best. This will at least give you a springboard from which to begin experimenting - it does take some trial and error because all plugins are not created equal.

Another way to learn about the best plugins is to simply ask around. Garner opinions from your Twitter and Facebook friends by posing the question as a status update. You will get real opinions from people who know (if you have enough friends who actively use Wordpress), and that first hand advice may save you a lot of time.

Hope this helps :-)

P.S. All-In-One SEO is a wonderful SEO plugin, and most people you ask will recommend that one for SEO - as will I.

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Permalink Reply by Karen Goldfarb on September 18, 2009 at 1:47am

Thanks. Actually, All-In-One SEO is what I use. plus Sociable, Chat Catcher, BackType Connect, FeedBurner, Google XML Sitemaps and about a billion others. Just curious if there was any other way to track them down.

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Permalink Reply by Larry Brauner on September 17, 2009 at 9:35pm

Try asking successful bloggers for advice. and you can avoid all the trial and error. You can also outsource the setup process to a virtual assistant who specializes in blogging or to a social media consultant.

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Permalink Reply by Karen Goldfarb on September 18, 2009 at 1:48am

Thanks, Larry. I have a wonderful developer oversees who's a Wordpress expert. He does a lot of this for me but I was just curious for other insight.

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Permalink Reply by Kelly Dyer on September 18, 2009 at 8:21am

Hi Guys,

One great way to explore the plugins that you may want to use is to use a tool to create a working copy of your Wordpress blog in a "sandbox", and you can install any plugins you want and simply revert back to the previous state of things if you don't like it.

A tool that lets you do this is BAM! (www.bamtastic.com) ...give it a try. It is actually an application that my company built so I am a little biased, but it was designed specifically for users of Wordpress, Joomla, and other open source systems where there are thousands of plugins and extensions to try, but you obviously can't try them on your live site. Creating an instant copy of your application that is fully functional, and that lets you backup and restore at anytime, lets you go crazy trying any modules, extensions, and themes that you want.

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Permalink Reply by Ivo "I.C." Jackson on September 19, 2009 at 6:29pm

Thank you all for your insight! This kind of productive interaction is what makes networking sites really "work". Great questions and great answers on meaningful topics.

I hope that we can keep the momentum going -)

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Permalink Reply by Luc Despres on May 26, 2010 at 9:46am

Hey Karen,
I actually just wrote a good post about wordpress plugins.

Read: Top 5 Must Have Wordpress Plugins

This will definitely help you get going :)

Let Me Empower You!
LucDespres.com

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