WebGal Studios

I’m often asked what plugins I use on my Niche Blogs. There’s a set bunch I always install, and depending on the niche, a few more that I find very useful.

1. Akismet - Most bloggers are already aware of Akismet, but if you are not, this plugin is a must have for any type of blog. It deals with your spam, and it learns what YOU think is spam as well. You can install it and let it notify you of spam comments to deal with individually on a case per case basis, or you can let it run on auto and do the work for you.
2. All in One SEO Pack - This SEO plugin is extremely helpful in that you can specify additional meta information that you otherwise cannot in the standard WP backend. Without giving up all my tricks, you can now use your keywords wisely and in a site wide manner.
3. Broken Link Checker - There’s nothing worse than having broken links all over a site. Especially resource pages that are so obviously outdated they may as well not even be there. This plugin tells you when there are broken links in your posts. You can then choose to fix it, or remove it all without going to the post directly.
4. commentluv - This one is a personal fave. I hate spam as much as anyone else, but if someone makes the time and effort to truly read a post I wrote and contribute to that post with useful, relevant information that others will find useful, I will reward them with a DOfollow link to their site (if they’ve left one) and their last post.
5. Google Analytics for WordPress - You do use Google Analytics, don’t you? If not, you should! Keep track of everything you need to know about site visitors, bounce rates and what keywords people are finding your site with.
6. Google XML Sitemaps - This is a no brainer for me. You may think using a site map is so 90’s. But what you didn’t know is that it makes your site Google friendlier! And it can actually help your new niche blog get indexed *FASTER*. Try it out!
7. Internal Link Building - Effectively helps you page sculpt. If that’s of interest to you (it is to me!). Page sculpting can help your internal link juice be used wisely. Link a keyword in your own posts back to the category page for that keyword - it helps spread your juice around and can increase sub page PR if used properly.
8. Limit Posts - This plugin limits the displayed text length on the index page entries and generates a link to a page to read the full content if its bigger than the selected maximum length. The author site seems to be down, if anyone knows where to get a download link for this one, let me know.
9. Sociable - Allows visitors to social bookmark, tweet or stumble your posts.
10. Wordpress Automatic Upgrade - Another no brainer for me. When WP updates, you can get your blog updated with a few clicks from your site backend. Simple as that!
11. WP ads - This is a highly useful plugin for anyone using ads of any kind on their site. You simply add the code in the backend, assign a zone for the location of the ad, and the plugin generates code for the that zone. Then you simply enter the above code wherever you want the ad to show in your theme template. So easy!
12. WP-reCAPTCHA - Another must have. This reCAPTCHA version works fluidly with most current WP themes. You can choose from a few different styles. Requires a reCAPTCHA key (which is free).

I’ve got this set in a specific folder on my PC. After the WP install, I upload the files to the plugin folder on the server and voila, done! Click to install them in the back end and you are up and running, ready for posts.

Do you have some favorites to add to this list?

Niche Blogging