Using WordPress Plug-ins To Improve Your Blog Posts

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05.11.10

Using WordPress Plug-ins To Improve Your Blog Posts

By Danny Brown

One of the best features of using a self-hosted WordPress blog are the plug-ins that are available. Because WordPress is an open source community, anyone can develop themes and tools for it.

Plug-insare community-built applications that add extra features to any WordPress blog, from back-end resources to enhancing the reader experience.

Lately I've been asked about some of the features that are on this blog that aren't native to the theme I use, so I thought it might be fun and useful to share them with you.

A couple of things. First, plug-ins can add load time to your blog, so only use ones that you really want (says he with 17 active plug-ins at present). Secondly, not all plug-ins and themes are compatible with each other, so make sure you check first. So… on with the list.

• Akismet. Probably the best spam filter I've ever used, Akismetis an incredibly intelligent plug-in that learns from the behaviour of your commenters to differentiate between spam and genuine comments. So far it's stopped 13,034 spam comments from this blog. A must-have for any WordPress user.

• Align RSS Images. If you subscribe to a blog by RSS feed, you'll know that images can appear all over the place. Align RSS Imagesmakes sure that the images in a feed are in the same place as they are on the actual post.

• Apture. I LOVE Apture! A multi-media makeover for your blog, it lets you insert media, video, online profiles and more into a link, which then opens up a box on your post page. This keeps your readers on your site and doesn't force them away for more info. Hover your mouse over this link to my Twitter profileor this one for the 12for12k video on YouTubeas an example. You also have the option to have a site-specific social search and share bar enabled as well. Simply put, one of my favourite plug-ins.

• CommentLuv. Another favourite of mine, CommentLuvis one of the best ways to show your commenters your appreciation. If they have a blog, it will allow them to share one of their recent blog posts with your readers and display the link when they leave a comment for you. A great plug-in.

Continue reading this article.

About the Author:
Danny Brown is the owner of Press Release PR, a boutique agency specializing in search engine optimized press releases and social media PR. He offers consultancy advice on social media and PR to both individuals and corporations He has guest authored at leading web and search marketing site Web Analytics World and is a blog partner of the WebProNews and iEntry business networks. He is also a regular contributor to the Dad-o-Matic project. To read more of Danny's articles or interact with him, please visit danny BROWN - social media PR.

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