Remember, WordPress runs faster with fewer plugins! So just pick a few to use and then if you want to add more you can. I think I have around 20 plugins running on sadielankford.com and it’s still doing great. The plugins listed below will encourage your readers to interact with you a bit more (visit more often, comment, etc).
1. ShareBar (Download) – ShareBar encourages, you guessed it, sharing. It allows your readers to select the social media that they would like to share your content though, which makes it much easier for them (which means they do it more often). ShareBar slides up and down the page as you’re browsing, so you know where to find it if you want to share anything.
2. Broken Link Checker (Download) – This does just what it says, it checks for broken links. Not only will broken links confuse new visitors, it will make some of them not want to come back. Keep your readers engaged by fixing broken links.
3. All in One SEO (Download) – Optimizes your WordPress blog for Search Engines. Great for all bloggers to use, helps get you more traffic as well. HeadSpace2 SEO is a newer alternative to All in One SEO. More traffic = more reader interaction.
4. TweetMeme (Download) – The TweetMeme retweet button is for websites and blog publishers who want to encourage their audience to tweet their content on Twitter. The button shows a live count of the number of times your webpage or blog post has been tweeted. Making it easy for your readers to retweet your content is the quickest way for your posts to go viral.
5. CommentLuv (Download) – Great way to give back to your loyal readers! CommentLuv lists the last post that the commenter posted on their own blog, thus giving them a little “luv” for leaving a comment. Encourages comments, which is always a good thing!
6. Thank Me Later (Download) – Last but not least, Akismet is a must! It’s the best spam blocker out there and just like the plugins above, it’s free! Let Akismet fight against spam, while you use your time for more important things.
There are so many free plugins to choose from that you may get overwhelmed at first. Just focus on learning (and loving) a few at a time and you will do just fine. You can see more of my favorite plugins here.
Guest post written by Sadie Lankford, a passionate writer who teaches you how to make money with your blog (in plain English). Follow her on twitter: @sadie_lankford.
