I’ve been thinking of jump starting the Improving Your Blog series that I abandoned a while back. What do you think? I knew you’d be excited because you’re looking to bring your blog to the next level this year! It’s so important to always be improving.
Here’s the four must have plugins for your WordPress blog:
Comment Reply Notification: This plugin does just what the name suggests. It allows you to reply to a comment left by a reader, and notifies the reader that you’ve responded. This plugin, or one like it, is wonderful for reader engagement and developing your community.
WordPress SEO by Yoast: WordPress SEO forces you to choose a focus keyword for your post, and then ensures that focus keyword is used everywhere. Brilliant. Using this plugin will help get you noticed by search engines.
JetPack: The JetPack plugin enables you to manage nearly every aspect of your blog from one dashboard.
NoFollowr: Do you have sponsored content on your blog? Did you know that you’re supposed to disclose that content to search engines? The NoFollowr plugin makes it easy for you to “no follow” links with the click of a mouse.
Did your favorite plugins make my list? If not, please share them in the comments.
This is part of an occasional series of posts about Improving Your Blog. If there is a specific topic you would like to see in the coming weeks, please email me with Improving Your Blog Series in the subject line.
Liz (Woof Woof Mama) says
Great plugin suggestions! I love experimenting and discovering new ones…except when they don’t work right LOL. A few of my favorites are Shareaholic, Duplicate Post and Social Media Widget.
Emily says
I use Shareaholic too! I’m going to investigate Duplicate Post, not familiar with that one!
Lena says
YEah, all of these are very cool plugins. I also love Faster Insert for images
Amber K. says
I have all but one of these plugins installed (off to check out the 1 I don’t now!)
Emily says
Good luck! I hope that it works well for you.
Sally says
SEO plugins can also be used to earn extra money.. 🙂
Cecile says
Love the suggestions. I have them all, put haven’t put them to full use yet.
Emily says
I am wondering how well I am using them, too! Some plugins are so dynamic that I feel like I may not be using them as best as I could be.
Kecia says
Thanks for this list! I use two of them…I want to take the time to install Jetpack and figure it out – eventually! My essentials also include Contact Form 7, Growmap Anti Spambot Plugin, WordPress Editorial Calendar, and Social.
Emily says
Jetpack is great, the gal that did my transfer installed it when she moved me over. It’s capable of a lot! I’m going to check out the WordPress Editorial Calendar, that sounds interesting!
Kasandria Reasoner says
Those are some good one! My tops are: All In One SEO, Flare, Instagram, and widget logic.
Kas
Emily says
I’ve started hearing more and more about Flare this week, I’m going to have to check it out. Thanks for the suggestions.
Miriam T. says
These are some great suggestions. I’d also add a backup plugin to the list. No one wants to lose their site!
Emily says
Great idea, Miriam! Backing up is so important!
Ashley T says
I don’t have the commenter plug in, but I love all the rest of the plug-ins. Thanks for the post, I’m off to check it out!
Emily says
If you try the commenter plugin, I’d love to know what you think! Thanks so much for stopping by!
Tiffany Cruz says
The one I need to work on is Comment Reply. I have it but I’m not sure it’s working properly. Thanks for sharing a few tips on your favorite plugins.
Emily says
I love the Comment Reply plugin! I know that I personally forget to go back to a blog to see if the blogger replied to my question, I love being able to alert my readers {like you} that I’ve replied!