Top 16 WordPress Plugins To Jump Start Your Blog

Posted by Hyder on August 18th, 2007

Guest post by Zach Kolleger. Subscribe to Zach’s feed.

To a lot of people starting a new blog can seem like a gigantic task. From finding a good available domain name, setting up hosting, theme customization and installing the right plugins {if you are using WordPress}. Well to make your life simpler I have compiled a list of my Top 16 WordPress plugins.

I think these 16 are great for making your blog more functional, and user friendly in a faster time {No guarantees, individual results may vary}. So, without further ado, I give you the Top 16 WP plugins - obviously they’re all free.

Top 16 WordPress Plugins

  • Plug Installer ~ This is the first plugin you need to get, as it helps you install all the rest.
  • WP e-Commerce ~ Perfect if you are selling anything from your blog, like those Alexa traffic rank tee shirts with your site name.
  • WP Post Rating System ~ Your readers can rate your post on a 1-5 scale, with 5 being the best.
  • Gregarious Bookmarking ~ The ultimate social bookmarking plugin, integrated with Share This.
  • WP Movie Review and Ratings ~ If write about movies then you need this plugin. Integrated with the Internet Movie Database.
  • Author Highlights ~ Highlights the comments/replies to comments made by the author, just so you know who’s who.
  • Edit Comments ~ Users can edit their own comments, an alternative to a bad word filter.
  • Dash Notes ~ So you can remember that post you wanted to write. It’s Canadian!
  • Digital Fingerprint Beta2 ~ Protects your content from being stolen. Someone let John Chow know about this. {Also Canadian!}
  • WP Ads ~ An add for showing Banner and Contextual ads.
  • WP Table ~ Since the WP visual editor has no table function, this plugin adds one.
  • Ad Man ~ Add ads before/in-the-middle-of/after your posts.
  • Contact Form 7 ~ A simple contact form plugin, that supports multi-forms, etc.
  • Transpose Email ~ With this spammers won’t be able to grab your mail-to: links.
  • Since Last Visit ~ A handy plugin that display the number of Comments and Posts since your last visit.
  • Easy PayPal ~ Accept “If you liked this post, buy me some beer/coffee/milk” payments.

Have fun and start pluggin’! Digg the article here.

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Category: Internet


~ 14 Comments so far...have your say ~

  1. Zach Kolleger

    Hey, thanks for putting up my post. :)

  2. Jesse

    Ali, I just stumbled upon your blog from a comment you left on TC. I really like your layout and design!

    Zach, do you use Wordpress yourself? It seems like I have heard nothing but horror stories about Wordpress. I have always thought about starting a blog, so I your post is very helpful assuming Wordpress is the way to go.

    Jesse

  3. Michael

    Contact form 7 is the only one listed here that I would consider using.

  4. Zach Kolleger

    Jesse, yes i am using wordpress currently, on wordpress.com, as I am in the process of installing it on my server. I have used the self-hosted version in the past, so thats how I know about the plug-ins.

    and michael..
    the contact form will be the second plug-in I’m going to install..as I agree with you; it probably is the most useful. :)

  5. My guest post « TechTalk4U | Redefining Web 2.0

    […] My guest post Over the weekend fellow blog Everybody Go To decided they would allow some guest blogging, as they were going to be busy. So being the good community fellow I am, I decided to help out, and submitted my latest post (Top 16 WP plugins) to them. I guess they thought it was pretty good, as they posted it. You can view it on their blog at: www.everybodygoto.com/top-16-wp-plugins . Last I checked it had 14 diggs, and a few comments. […]

  6. Sam Goh

    Curious to know if there’s a ‘transliteration’ feature/plugin available, whereby I can type my motivational poems in English and get them ‘translated’ automatically into another language (eg. Hindi) as seen in my blog http://motivationinmotion.blogspot.com ?

    Sam Goh Tue. 21st Aug. 2007.

  7. Flick

    Thanks for the post! :) I came across this via a pingback on the Dash-notes page, and was very pleasantly surprised to find a list VERY different to some the ones praised by other blogs. Thanks! I agree that Wp-Table is definitely one of the unsung heroes!

  8. 19 Overlooked But Powerful Resources For Niche And Blog Marketers | Andrew Hansen Dot Name

    […] A Good/Different Plugins List […]

  9. Gary

    Hi. Very handy list. Just one question, however. Which plugin do you use for Recommended Reading?

  10. Hyder

    Gary it is the Related Posts plugin available here

  11. Gary

    Thanks for the info, Hyder.
    Gary

  12. Paul

    You forgot to include Arkayne Widget in your list. You know that blogRush / EntreCard replacement you’ve been looking for?

    For the curious: http://www.arkayne.com

  13. Michelle Wong

    Thanks for the great information. I just suscribed to your blog feed.Michelle

  14. Never let your blog be stagnant - ever : Zach Kollegger

    […] Sure mine did have a few nice things, like a PR 1, and some pretty decent traffic I got through a guest post on EverybodyGoTo {under an alias}, but it was nothing […]

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