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Once I had WordPress up and running I wanted answers to the following:
- How to protect the site from comment spam?
- How to generate a Sitemap and tell search engines about it?
- How to promote the site?
- How to identify and display the more popular content?
- How to display images in a user friendly gallery?
At first I tried the most popular plugins in the WordPress Plugin Directory that seemed to do what I wanted. However, I soon ran into trouble. Some were an overkill for what I needed, some interfered with each other, some did things I just didn’t like. I also didn’t like the cumulative impact these installs and uninstalls had on my database.
Eventually I built a duplicate site to install and test plugins, after which I rebuilt this site using only those I liked. Here are my newbie thoughts on the WordPress plugins I tried.
Akismet
An answer for how to protect the site from comment span. Included in the default WordPress install and does exactly what it says on the label. Akismet’s home at WordPress.
Google XML Sitemaps
An answer for how to generate a Sitemap and tell search engines about it. Can’t say much about this plugin, it seems to do what it claims with minimal fuss or configuration. Google XML Sitemaps’ home at WordPress.
All in One SEO Pack
An answer for how to promote the site. First impressions are wow, this tool does everything. However, it seemed to kill my RSS (Feedburner) link and after reading up a bit I decided to go with a Greg’s High Performance SEO plugin for Search Engine Optimisation. I don’t believe there is anything wrong with this plugin, it just didn’t work for me. All in One SEO Pack’s home at WordPress.
Greg’s High Performance SEO
An answer for how to promote the site. I selected this plugin in favour of the All in One SEO Pack based on its ability to disable mass modification of page headers and instead add the appropriate properties to my custom theme. This plugin offers a ’sledgehammer’ mode to operate the same way as other SEO plugins, but it is not recommended by the author. Greg’s High Performance SEO’s home at WordPress.
Google Analytics for WordPress
An answer for how to promote the site. This plugin does what it says. Add your Analytics Account ID and you’re set. There is also the option to specify many advanced settings, which I haven’t used as yet. Google Analytics for WordPress’ home at WordPress.
Add to Any: Share/Bookmark/Email Button
An answer for how to promote the site. Giving readers the opportunity to share your content makes sense to me. This plugin works as expected and only has one snag I haven’t managed to fix yet. The link style for the buttons are faded by default which looks ugly. Add to Any’s home at WordPress.
Google Integration Toolkit
An answer for how to promote the site. This is another plugin I tried, but decided not to use. I experienced some difficulties with the site’s 404 Not Found handling and during the process of trying to resolve it uninstalled this plugin. As I ended up using more specialised plugins, this one didn’t fit into the collection I eventually selected. Google Integration Toolkit’s home at WordPress.
FD Feedburner Plugin
An answer for how to promote the site. This plugin is simply not needed. I found that after I installed the Google Analytics for WordPress plugin that this plugin added no functionality. FD Feedburner Plugin’s home at WordPress.
GD Star Rating, GD Simple Widgets, and GD Press Tools
An answer for how to identify and display the more popular content. GD Star Rating adds the ability for readers to rate content, GD Simple Widgets provides widgets to display the most popular content, and GD Press Tools is a pre-requisite for GD Simple Widgets. This set of plugins has a dizzying array of options and took much more effort to use than I liked. However, if is definitely worth persevering with these plugins if you want readers to be able to rate your content. GD Star Rating, GD Simple Widgets, and GD Press Tools’ home at WordPress.
Lightbox 2 (by Rupert Morris)
An answer for how to display images in a user friendly gallery. I wrote about my impressions of the Media Library and default Image Gallery in 9 Things you need to know before using WordPress, but in summary I found the output unfriendly for readers. After trying a few of the Gallery plugins I liked the results produced by this plugin the most. Lightbox 2’s home at WordPress.
In conclusion, I found that installing smaller more focussed plugins worked better for me that large do-it-all ones. The WordPress Plugin Directory lists thousands of plugins and I found it overwhelming to pick the plugins I needed. Additionally, there is much overlap and duplication of functionality that makes it difficult to find the right combination of plugins. Lastly, creating a site specifically to try out plugins worked wonders for me.
