I’ve been a blogger for almost two years now. Unlike many, I started on WordPress but didn’t really know how lucky I was until hearing other bloggers talk about having to transfer their blogs from Blogger. If you are thinking of starting of a blog, I highly recommend that you use WordPress. You do have to provide your own hosting, but with companies like Host Gator you won’t pay an arm and a leg for fast, reliable service. Trust me, if you want to be successful and have total control over your blog, the small monthly investment is totally worth it.
WordPress offers users the ability to make your blog do exactly what you want it to do with plugins. Over the last two years, plugins have become my BFF. There are so many plugins available that customizing your blog is a breeze. I have a few favorite plugins that I wanted to share with you today.
Ad Squares Widget Plugin
This plugin makes it extremely easy for you to display 125×125 ad buttons in your blog. You can have anywhere from 2 to 8 squares depending on how many ads you want to sell. Each ad square accepts HTML/JavaScript code, so it works well with standard affiliate ads and even network ads. You also have the ability to configure your widget to shuffle the position of the ads plus you can also rotate different ads in each square.
Once you install the plugin, you can learn more about it under the ‘Appearance’ tab on your dashboard. To add the ads to your sidebar simply add the ‘Ad Squares Widget’ to your sidebar. Here is what it will look like.
It’s simple to use and allows me to easily keep all my ads together without having to have any knowledge of coding.
Greg’s Threaded Comment Numbering
When I did my recent blog makeover, I knew I wanted to incorporate threaded numbering. I think it keeps comments nice and neat and it’s easy to see replies. You can choose how deeply nested you want the replies, up to the full 10 levels supported by WordPress.
nrelate Related Content
nrelate is a plugin that beautifully displays related content on your blog. You can choose how you want related content to display, either text or thumbnail, and you can even choose the size of the thumbnail. Here is how it looks on one of my most recent posts about meeting Elton John.
You have the ability to change the text above the content to display whatever you like. I couldn’t think of anything clever, so I just have mine set to display “You may also like”. You also have total control of how many posts the plugin will display. I have mine set to show 5, as pictured above. You can also choose how relevant you want the related content to be. I have mine set on low right now and it has done a very good job at displaying related content. Each of the related content thumbnails pictured above, all had to do with my trip to LA – even the earring post. So, even set on low, it’s doing a pretty phenomenal job.
I have used a couple of related content plugins, but nrelate is by far my fave. The patent-pending technology behind nrelate continuously analyzes the website content and displays other related posts from the website. This will ultimately lead to higher pageviews for your site, and a better user experience for visitors.
Sexy Bookmarks
Giving readers the ability to quickly share your articles, is a must-have for a successful blog. If readers don’t know how to share, they won’t. If you make it easy for them, they will! Sexy Bookmarks makes it easy for your readers to share via Twitter, Facebook, email, etc. and it looks great in your posts.
I love the way it looks on my blog and with the click of a button you can choose where in your post you want it to go. I have it at the bottom of my posts and so far, so good.
W3 Total Cache
This plugin dramatically improved the speed of my site. There’s nothing I hate more than going to a website and waiting for the pages to load. When my readers come to my blog, I don’t want them to have to wait for it to load. Given that I don’t know much about what goes on behind-the-scenes, I’m not sure how this plugin actually works. I just know from my experience that it does work and it works well.
While I currently use 28 plugins on my blog, right now these are my 5 favorites. I hope that if you aren’t using these plugins that you give them a try and let me know what you think.
I’m always on the lookout for plugins that will make my blog better. What are some of your favorite plugins?
Jennifer @ Mom Spotted says
Thanks! I just added nRelate! I can’t wait to see it in the AM (takes to hours to work). I get so nervous when it comes to plug-ins.
Kasandria says
I use everyone you listed except the relate one. I also like tweetmeme so you have the little rt button.
Kas
Crystal says
I’m totally thinking about adding that plugin! Thanks for the reminder.
Eileen says
I am thinking about blogging and am going to book mark this. I have so much to learn. I have NO idea what most of these terms mean, but I guess everyone has to start somewhere. I can see how an ORGANIZED and numbered system would work so nice!
Crystal says
Good luck Eileen! I’m sure you have many stories to tell with such a large family.
courtney says
wow I’ve been thinking about switching over to wordpress, I wish I would have just started with it
Nichol says
Great list. Gonna check out nrelate. I like sexy bookmarks but not for twitter. I can’t customize it to say what I want like I can with tweetmeme. I’m a big fan of and the winner is as well!
Brandy says
Great list girl! 🙂
sarah says
love gregs. I am going to try the nrelate. I also love the comment love
Penelope G says
I should try WP Cache and the related posts one…mine doesn’t do such a good job.
Louise says
I’m not using any of these. I also need to do a footer like you. I really like that.
Annie @ Mama Dweeb says
Thank you for these! I prefer Digg Digg plugin to Sexy Bookmarks but both of them are really helpful for your readers and help to get your content out there 🙂
I need to use the ad squares plugin. I hate trying to figure out Html code for a table. I had never heard of it till now!
Crystal says
I’ll check Digg Digg Annie! Thanks for sharing.
Stefani says
I just added the Digg Digg to one of my new blogs I just created. I think I like it over the Sexy bookmarks too!
Texas Type A Mom says
I’ve only been blogging for about two months now and I’m wondering if I should make the switch over to Word Press. I use Word Press for my private (family and friends only) blog but get frustrated by the picture upload thing (which it’s quite possible I’ve been doing wrong for many years) and the lack of really great backgrounds/templates (although this could be from a lack of looking).
I’m wondering if I should just transfer everything over to Word Press now before I get a Google PR rating established and it’s even more of an ordeal to transfer things over.
Those plugins look pretty nice AND I love your commenting feature. I’ve been trying to figure out how to do it in Blogger and I don’t think it exists.
Crystal says
Yes, I totally think you should switch over now 😉
Dealectable Mom says
Oh I need that ad squares widget! Great post!
Mallory says
Great picks, I was wondering which plugin did the social media icons the way that Sexy Bookmarks does. I kept seeing that on blogs – I’ll have to check that one out.
Askimet is a must-have for spam moderation. I use LinkWithin for my related links posts on my blog.