I proudly host my site on WordPress and ever since my switch to WordPress I have been more than pleased with the options. I wrote a post earlier on about 5 killer WordPress plug-ins that I like, but with the thousands of WordPress plug-ins on the web there have been quite a few that contributed to the success of Robswebtips.
How I increase discussions and encourage commenting
Commentluv
Commentluv is a plug-in that if you don’t have, get it now! Well. . . after you read this awesome post that is. Commentluv is a plug-in that allows commentators to show their most recent blog post.
Ever seen that before on your comments, or someone elses? Well that’s commentluv and it’s a great plug-in to have on your blog.
Download CommentluvDofollow comments
By default WordPress adds an evil no follow attribute to commentators links, this blocks search engines from indexing the commentators link and that means no link love. Grr. . . evil WordPress is reducing m chances of getting more comments to my blog. Well if you want to say bye bye to the no follow link, the Dofollow comments plug-in replaces the no follow attribute with a do follow attribute. This way, your commentators will be more happy commenting on your blog.
Download Dofollow commentsGet recent comments 
It’s important to build conversation on your blog and no better way to do it, than to show users what are the new trending discussions on your blog. Ever noticed in my footer I show the latest discussions? The get recent comments plug-in allows me to easily show the newest discussions that are going on around my blog. This not only helps me drive more traffic to other posts, but encourage users to engage in article discussions.
Download Get recent commentsReply me
When you reply to a commentators comment, there not going to know you replied unless they come back and check. Nine times out of ten, there is not a chance in hell they will be back to check if you replied or not. So why not let them get notified VIA email when they receive a response on their comment. Not just by you, but anyone who decides to reply. Reply me is a plug-in I use that emails a commentator each time they receive a response to their comment. This plug-in is not like subscribe to comments, it will not email your commentator every time there is a new comment on that article.
Download Reply meTop commentators widget
I
f you ever noticed on my sidebar I like to reward commentators for being active with a dofollow link back to their site. Every month I have it reset so it’s fair play for all readers, new and old. The top commentators widgets help encourage readers comment on my articles because they know if they participate enough they will get rewarded for it. This plug-in is an easy install and set up. So within a matter of minutes you can have your readers fighting to achieve the title of top commentator and a link back from your blog. Watch your readers grab their swords and fight like bloody hell to make it to the top!
Subscribe to comments
Subscribe to comments is a plug-in I use for readers who really want to engage on the juicy conversations that go on here at Robswebtips. Subscribe to comments allows your readers to select the option to get notified each time there is a new comment on that article. Giving them opportunity to engage in the conversation.
Download Subscribe to commentsSearch engine optimization
Recently Robswebtips hit a pagerank of 4 and I thank a couple of plug-ins I’ve used to help boost my search engine love.
All in one SEO pack
I use the All in one SEO pack because that literally what it is. An easy to use SEO plug-in that takes away the pain and countless hours of cussing at your computer because you’re trying to insert meta tags into your post.
Download the All in one SEO packGoogle XML sites
The quicker it is for robots to index your site, the faster your site will get indexed and the better rankings you can get. Google XML sitemaps automatically generates a sitemap for your blog and you can easily submit your sitemap link to your Google webmasters account for quick and easy indexing.
Download Google XML sitemapsGoogle Analytics for WordPress
I love Google analytics, it helps me track my visitor statistics, website traffic and a ton more. In order for me to get accurate results I wanted to make sure I had my tracking code embedded in all the pages of my site. To cure my solution I found the Google Analytics plug-in for WordPress which automatically places my Google tracking code in all my pages.
Download Google Analytics for WordPressEasy accessible content
I use a couple of plug-ins that have really helped resurrect my old posts back to life.
Popular Posts, Recent posts , Similar posts & Random posts
In my sidebar and in my footer I display my most popular posts and my most recent posts. This lets my readers get a feel for what’s new and what’s popular here at Robswebtips. As a blogger it’s important to understand that the more accessible your content is to your reader, the better.
These plug-ins by Rob Marsh have helped me triple the traffic on my site, increase my subscription rate and made my readers more happy.
Download Popular postsDownload Recent posts Download Random posts
Download Similar posts
IMPORTANT: If you want to install any of these plug-ins, you need to install Rob Marsh’s post plug-in libary plug-in.
WordPress security
With all the assholes that try to attack your site out there it’s important to keep your blog safe. I use a couple plug-ins that help ensure the security of my blog and readers.
Login lockdown
To prevent someone from hacking into your account or any of your other users, Login lockdown is a great plug-in to have. Your allowed to set it so after a user has X failed number of log-in attempts their IP is blocked from logging into to your blog for however long you set it to.
Download Login lockdownWordPress security scan
Just a basic WordPress security scan to make sure all parts of your blog is safe and secure.
Download WordPress security scanRandom (but useful) plug-ins
Tweetme
Tweetme displays a mini tweetme button on the top of my post encouraging users to tweet my article if they like it. Nothing wrong with letting your post go viral on WordPress right?
Download TweetmeWP Super cache
WordPress Super Cache is a plug-in that helps my site go lighting fast, this plug-in is a caching plug-in for WordPress. If you don’t have it, I suggest installing it now, even if you think your blog is fast. This plug-in will make it faster.
Download WP Super CacheAfter the deadline
Yea I know, I’m not the best speller in the world. Since I absolutely refuse to sit through another 7 week English class, I downloaded After the Deadline plug-in which checks all my grammatical errors. This one is much better than the default WordPress spellcheck.
Download After the deadline plug-inContact form 7
A simple contact form I use on my contact page for my readers to easily contact me.
Really simple CAPTCHA
An add on to Contact form 7 which adds a captcha field to prevent spammers.
Download Contact form 7 | Download Really simple CAPTCHAPlug-in help
I understand with the numerous list of plug-ins I’ve listed, depending on your experience you might have some trouble configuring the plug-ins. No worries, if this is the issue shoot me an email from my contact page and I will personally install and configure the plug-in for you.
Group Discussion
If you managed to survive reading this 1,250 word post well congratulations, you’re blog is one step closer to becoming more powerful. I’ve only listed 21 plug-ins that have contributed to the growth of my blog. But what about you? What plug-ins do you use to help expand your blog? Did you find any new and useful plug ins from this? Let’s discuss this in the comments below!
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{ 37 comments… read them below or add one }
What’s the difference between these plugins and the standard widgets for recent posts, recent comments, etc?
Stefan´s last blog . . .The Don’t Quit Poem
With Rob Marsh’s plug-ins I’m allowed to display thumbnail, post views and really customize it to my exact look and feel. With the default Wordpress plug-in, it’s pretty generic and only displays the link to the article.
Thank you Rob. With a few tweaks it looks great and now I’ve implemented most of his plugins with my new magazine skin for Thesis. Thanks!
Stefan´s last blog . . .The Don’t Quit Poem
Not a problem Stefan! Glad it went smoothly for ya.
Thanks for the links, grabbed a couple. But I believe your link for the “Get Recent Comments” Plugin has an error. “http://http//blog.jodies.de/2004/11/recent-comments/” It has an extra http in the link.
Chaos P. Bennu´s last blog . . .Burkman Bros | Autumn Winter Collection
Thanks for the pointing that out, fixed the link. Which plug-ins did you check out?
Thank you for the post. This is a great list, and very crucial to having a succesful blog. One thing i do want to mention is that you have to make sure that the 3rd party plug in that you are downloading must be from a reliable source, and always check for updates and ensure that the most up to date version of the plugin is installed. For security reasons. Thanks
Great plug-ins! I’ll be sure to download most of them!
This is a good collection useful plugins
Nimit kashyap´s last undefined . . .Last posts cached until Mon 25 @ 18:26 (Refreshes in 23.02 Hours)
Glad you liked them, what were your favor?
I use the commentluv plugin on my blog too. I think that it not only brings value to the commenter, it also brings value to your readers. Readers love to find other interesting blogs to read. Commentluv allows them to do that.
TheDebtHawk.com´s last blog . . .Bank Rates Guide
Very good point! I never thought of that even though it has been true in many cases for me. I’ve seen a lot of good reads thru comment love.
Great! absolutely awesome list of useful plugins Rob, though I use some of them, but still I found almost all very useful, more so because they have been tried and trusted by you. Above all your generous help and support in case we run into any problem. You are a great source to learn from. I have subscribed for your updates. I came to your site from Lisa’s site, another great learning site.
Thanks.
Health n Fitness Care´s last blog . . .HEALTH CARE: COMMON SYMPTOMS FOR HEALTH PROBLEMS
Glad to see you liked the list! Which ones were your favorite?
I liked almost all, I have even implemented some after reading your post. I have applied WP Super cache after reading your post, hope I will benefit from it. But I am afraid, this one is a bit technical one, hope I have implemented it rightly. Tell me Rob, in case I made some mistakes while configuring it, will it adversely affect my site? Or I don’t have to worry.
Health n Fitness Care´s last blog . . .HEALTH CARE: COMMON SYMPTOMS FOR HEALTH PROBLEMS
WP Supercache speeds up your site tremendously and I highly recommend using it on your blog.
For the Twitter box below, I use a plug-in called “Twitterlink comments” you can see it here – http://comluv.com/download/twitterlink-comments/ I really do enjoy having it on my blog, it was one of my most recent additions.
One more thing Rob, how to put the twitter link under the comment form, like you have done.
Thanks.
Health n Fitness Care´s last blog . . .HEALTH CARE: COMMON SYMPTOMS FOR HEALTH PROBLEMS
Thanks for the information. One thing more Rob, after activating WP super cache plugin, does the google search results, or any search results for that matter show the updated page or the old cached page. I mean to say will the search results show my updated content every time after activating the plugin.
Health n Fitness Care´s last blog . . .HEALTH CARE: COMMON SYMPTOMS FOR HEALTH PROBLEMS
WP Supercache does not effect search engine rankings. It only speeds up the loading of your site. Would you like me to show you my settings for WP Super Cache? (If yes, shoot me over an email)
Rob, I just wanted to commend you on a job well done. Thank you so much for putting together this great resource; it was nice to have all these useful plugins in one location. I think that I definitely downloaded about 60-70% of the plugins that you recommended.
I like to give credit where credit is due and you, my friend, deserve an applause for your outstanding effort. Keep up the good work.
I discovered your Site when Lisa showcased your story on 2createAwebsite(dot)com a couple of days ago. I was very inspired by what you’d accomplished thus far on the Internet at such a young age of 15–bravo! Btw, congrats for making Google Partner–how long did it take you to make that happen?
And, how do you record your interviews? Thanks again, and God bless!
BodyByPatrick´s last blog . . .P90x Fitness Guide
Thanks for the kind words Patrick, I appreciate them! For the Youtube Partnership it took me about a year to do it (half of the year I was just fooling around).
For my interviews, I usually do them VIA Skype, or email. Those platforms work best for me and my interviewees.
P.S: Welcome to the site
hope to see you around!
I love Apture. It adds so much great context to my site. I can link to videos, and wikipedia. It makes a site stickier.
Debbie Lattuga´s last blog . . .Heart Rate Monitor Training | Calculate Maximum Resting Heart Rates
Awesome plug-in Debbie! I checked it out and it looked interesting, I might have to download and fool around with it in my free time.
P.S: I love that your rockin’ your site with Thesis
Rob,
I got a wonderful email today from you. It was your reply to my comment. I loved that interaction and was curious how you did it. So I came back to your blog and re-read your post.
I rarely check the box “notify me of followup comments” because busy blogs send me tons of email. And when I read your post the first time, I didn’t really get the beauty of the Reply Me plugin.
Thanks a ton! What an awesome plugin. I am so excited I subscribed to your feed.
Debbie Lattuga´s last blog . . .Heart Rate Monitor Training | Calculate Maximum Resting Heart Rates
Thanks a lot Debbie! I take the time and reply to everyone’s comment, I mean if you take the time to comment, let me take the time to reply, right?
And yes, I use the “ReplyME” plug-in, it notify’s readers ONLY when an author, or someone else replies to THEIR comment, not anyone else s
Hi Debbie,
yesterday we’ve upgraded from WP 2.8.6 to 2.9.2 DE-Version and same problem like you: It’s impossible to create new embeddings or links with the apture plugin 1.3.
But the old apture links are still running. And on yr. site?
Regards,
Simmy
Thanks for this list of plug-ins. This is super helpful since I am new to Wordpress and I’m still a bit intimidated by all of the possibilities.
I downloaded the After The Deadline plug-in because while I always try to edit my posts before I publish them, somethings sometimes slip by.
Elyse Doerflinger´s last blog . . .Wordless Wednesday: First Family Photo
No problem Elyse, let me know how the plug-in works for you. It worked pretty good for me
Hi Rob, can you suggest some good plugin for sending thank you mail to the people who comment on your blog.
Health n Fitness Care´s last blog . . .TIPS TO HANDLE PAINFUL PERIODS (DYSMENORRHOEA)
Totally, check out the Thank me later plug-in.
Ya, I know about this plugin, but it is not compatible with my current version of wordpress 2.9.2. Is there any other such plugin compatible with the latest version of wordpress?
Health n Fitness Care´s last blog . . .TIPS TO HANDLE PAINFUL PERIODS (DYSMENORRHOEA)
Not that I know of.. I’d wait for their update.
How do you hide your replies from the latest comments section?
Health n Fitness Care´s last blog . . .TIPS TO HANDLE PAINFUL PERIODS (DYSMENORRHOEA)
I don’t get your question?
Thanks for sharing Rob
Kharim´s last blog . . .How Often Should You Post A Blog?
I am definitely using these plug-ins on my website. well some of them i already have but i will definitely enjoy the rest!
Alvaro Madrid´s last blog . . .Welcome-
wow, this is great. Top plugin posts are always helpful, im going to download some right now
YuTubeMedia´s last blog . . .YouTube surpasses Yahoo! As the Internet’s 3rd most visited site
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