This list is compiled of 5 plugins for WordPress that I feel are essential. Whether you are setting up a WordPress site for a client or improving your own these are a few handy tools that should not be overlooked. They have a common theme of sharing and search optimization across the list, as well as making it easy for less technical users to keep an eye on some more technical tasks. Does that make sense? The more enabled you can make a client, the better they will feel about the whole process. It usually also makes it easier on you.
Image credit: felishumanus @ flickr
- All in one SEO pack
The plugin’s description of ‘Out-of-the-box SEO’ is right on. This makes it easy for you to optimize the key areas of your posts and wordpress pages with no questions ask. Obviously it is still up to the author to put in keyword rich titles and descriptions that will drive traffic, but the plugin itself is worth its weight in SEO gold. - Sitemap Generator
A handy plugin that will create an XML sitemap for you with all sorts of bells and whistles. You have the option to assign priorities to certain areas of the site, as well as include automatic submisssion to various search engines. The documentation is also very complete for clearing up questions as you configure the plugin. - Google Analytics for WordPress
A simple plugin that allows you to insert your analytics code and displays a nice summary on your dashboard page in wp-admin. This is always nice to have so that when changing themes you do not need to worry about your analytics code being wiped. The second part of this one is that if your not using Google Analytics to monitor traffic- now is the time to start. - Socialize
Gives the poster the option to include various social buttons with an inline button or an alert box style for sharing over differnt services. It will give you those popular buttons for Digg, StumbleUpon, Twitter, and of course Facebook. This is a nice way to promote the sharing of your content and puts it right in the readers face. This plugin provides the ‘Tweet This’ button you see on this post! - Exclude Pages from Navigation
This plugin is a must have in my eyes for a few reasons. Many times I’ve encountered someone who may have previously used pages on their blogs, when in reality they should have been posting. We don’t really want to go back and remove those pages in case there are links out there that would be broken. We also don’t want to leave them in, because now its cluttering the menu for the site. This plugin allows you to exclude pages from the navigation without removing them. The option is a simple and well described check box added to your post menu.
Please feel free to contribute to this list by commenting about your favorite plugins.
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