WordPress Plugins – 5 Great WP Plugins For Your New Blog Or Website
WordPress is an amazing Blogging platform which makes it really quick and easy for anyone to publish their own blog or website.
WordPress Plugins are clever little programs created by Plugin Developers which can be quickly installed to produce literally hundreds of different features, effects and benefits for your blog.
So if you want to add video to your blog or website – there are many plugins to choose from. If you want to add photo galleries to your blog – then again there are lots of options to choose from. There is probably a plugin for virtually anything you can think of.
For the first time blogger or newcomer to WordPress I would recommend the following 5 Plugins to give you an idea of the range and versatility of WP Plugins. There are lots more if you need them, but the following plugins will literally give you the potential to transform your blog saving you lots of time, stress and hassle.
Here is my recommended list to get you up and running, you can find them from the Plugins Menu in your WordPress Control Panel – Just choose the option to ‘Add New’ and then just search for the following plugins:
List of 5 Recommended WP Plugins for Newcomers to WordPress Self Hosted Blogs
1) Smart Youtube WP Plugin – Add Youtube Videos
2) Photodropper WP Plugin – Add Flickr Images
3) Contact Form 7 WP Plugin – Add a professional Contact Form
4) AddThis WP Plugin – Add a ‘Share’ button to each blog post
5) Twittercounter WP Plugin – Add a Twittercounter to your sidebar
1) Smart Youtube Plugin – Add Youtube Videos
This is a plugin which allows you to quickly and easily add virtually any Youtube video to your blog post or blog page. You can easily customize the appearance of the video player in terms of color and size to fit perfectly with your blog theme and design.
To use the plugin all you need to do is copy and paste the Youtube video url into your blog post and then make a tiny amendment to the url (add the letter ‘v’) and that is it. It’s really quick and simple – no other code is required.
2) Photodropper Plugin – Add Flickr Photos
This plugin allows you to search for images by keyword from within your WordPress Control Panel. So as you are writing a blog post, you can just search out an appropriate image and Photodropper will present you with a list of photos which you have permission to publish.
All you do is simply select the image you like and publish it to your post. Again, like the Smart Youtube plugin – it is really quick and easy.
3) Contact Form 7 Plugin – Create a Contact Form Page
This plugin is really useful, apart from making it really easy to create a contact page for your blog it can also be used to produce more forms – so you could use it to collect other feedback from your readers and followers.
If someone leaves a message on the contact or feedback form, it sends you a copy of the message almost instantly to your designated email address. So you will get the feedback very fast making it easy for you to react quickly.
4) Add This Plugin – Add a ‘Share’ Button
This is fast becoming one of the most popular ‘Share’ buttons around. It allows your readers to share your content really easily through the option of selecting one of many social bookmarking sites and social networks.
Once you have installed this plugin, it will automatically place a ‘Share’ Button under every post you submit maximizing the chance for your work to spread around the web.
5) Twittercounter Plugin – Let everyone know how many Twitter Followers you have
This plugin is probably more for fun than anything, but if you do have a lot of Twitter followers then this might just boost the credibility of your blog.
Once you have installed it you will have a choice of Twitter counters, so you can select the one you think is most appropriate for your Blog.
What are you waiting for?
So, what are you waiting for – go ahead and try installing these plugins and you will be amazed at the results! Once you have tried some out you will find it much easier finding more plugins and customizing your site so that it does exactly what you are looking for.
One word of warning – don’t go installing too many plugins as each one will slow down your site a little – so just stick to the ones you really need.