Over the years I’ve indulged in many different blogs, some personal, most irreverent and all hosted by someone else. Geocities, LiveJournal, Blogger, the list goes on. Every attempt cloaked under a pseudonym, they all eventually ran out of steam. It was either writing in a vacuum that caused the demise or lack of desire. Some folks love having a little soapbox from which to rant and rave about the most miniscule of things, but I always wanted to write things worth reading not useless word vomit.
When I finally got the kick in the pants I needed to get me going again (here), I made the decision to approach this endeavor differently. First, I would use my own name. No more handles, nicknames or masks. Second, I would host the blog myself, exerting complete control over the design and functionality. Without a sense of ownership, I felt the words wouldn’t carry the weight I wanted them to.
When researching self hosted options, the one that came up again and again was WordPress. I already frequented some blogs built on the platform (Scalzi, Lateral Action, A Dribble of Ink), so I was familiar with its capabilities. On top of that, my web hosting provider could install the software for me free of charge. It really was a no brainer.
The installation was painless, the configuration screens were straight forward and I was posting in no time. Now that the foundation was laid, I could start building. The great thing about WordPress is that it has a huge developer community behind it, making just about anything possible on your blog. The bad thing about WordPress is that it has a huge developer community behind it, which overloads you with a gazillion choices and only a smattering of reviews to guide you.
The Plugin Directory has roughly 5400 plugins and the more popular functionality (comments, twitter, sidebars) have multiple plugins doing similar things. Reviews and download statistics are nice, but not the complete picture. I searched through the directory, plugin homepages, other WordPress blogs (to see what they were doing). After much trial and error, I found the right combination of functionality and ease of use.
To save you the time and effort, I put together a list of the plugins I’m currently using on my blog. Hopefully this will give you a better idea of what might work with your setup.
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AJAX Comment Preview – There’s nothing worse than spending time crafting the perfect comment, only to see your HTML tags were incorrect and it looks all garbled once posted. This plugin didn’t need any further customization after install and has been working like a champ.
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Akismet – No one likes spam. Not in their inbox, not in a can and especially not on their blog. In roughly a month of being up, this blog has received 30+ spam comments and that’s without any real traffic to speak of. This is another “set it and forget it” plugin. Once configured, it just works.
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Contact Form 7 – Putting your email out on the web is just an invitation for viruses and spam. If you want to let your readers reach you while still protecting your email address, then a contact form is the way to go. It’s a little intimidating to configure at first, but the homepage is pretty decent and running you through the process and the forums are lively with its discussion. This is the top downloaded contact form on WordPress and its robustness reflects that. (Also works with Akismet)
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FeedBurner FeedSmith – This one was actually recommended within the configuration pages of the WordPress theme I’m using. Instead of having to reconfigure your sites default RSS feeds to FeedBurner, this redirects all the traffic automatically. That way if you ever decide to drop FeedBurner you readers won’t have to change anything on their end.
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GeneralStats – This plugin I use internally on my dashboard. It gives me stats normally not collected such as number of words in all posts, words in all comments and other nerdy stuff. I tend to be a stats geek so this helps scratch that itch.
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Google Analyticator – Google Analytics is the best (free) web stats application out there. This plugin allows you to configure your WordPress blog to hook up to your Analytics account without having to mess with any code. Its configuration may be a little tricky on the more advanced features, but their website has a forum if you’re really stuck.
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Gurken Subscribe to Comments – Sometimes you don’t want to keep hitting a blog to see if anyone responded to the comment you left. This plugin allows you to check a box and receive any follow up comments via email. It also allows for a double opt in method, sending an email to the reader to verify their address. The homepage is in German, but the plugin is built on top of another well known (and in English) comment plugin. I picked this one specifically for the double opt in feature.
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Really Simple CAPTCHA – Made to add CAPTCHA functionality to the Contact Form 7 plugin. If you want the extra protection, slap it in. No configuration necessary.
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SexyBookmarks – Making it easy for your readers to share your posts will make them more inclined to do so. This plugin puts cool pop up graphics underneath your post pointing readers to 25 different methods of spreading your words (Delicious, Digg, Email, Twitter, etc). I love the way it looks and the multitude of options it gives.
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Twitter Friendly Links – When posting a link in Twitter most people use URL shortening services like TinyURL. One issue with these sites is that you’re never sure what you’re clicking on until you do so. Another is that it never references your own blog’s URL. With this plugin all the Twitter friendly link
s to your posts are created using the domain name of your blog (i.e. http://gabrielnovo.com/32) giving potential clickers at least an idea of what they’re in for. It also supposedly helps with SEO. Integrates well with Twitter Tools. -
Twitter Tools – Twitter is a great alternate communication method with an extensive reach. This plugin allows your blog to tweet every time you make a new post. It also has a widget that displays your current Twitter stream.
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WordPress.com Stats – Sometimes you just want an easy overview of your stats. No complex reports, no excessive options, just a quick snapshot. This plugin provides that and integrates with your dashboard.
What kind of plugins do you use on your WordPress blog? Share your horror stories, triumphs or favorites in the comments.
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