Added A Few More WordPress Plug-ins

March 16th, 2007 · 12 Comments · 5,585 views

I talked recently about some of the WordPress plugins I’m using… well, I just installed a bunch of new plug-ins :)

When I installed the Share This plug-in 1.3 was the latest version. But Alex King published version 1.4 some time ago. So I decided to install the latest version. This version has StumbleUpon which seems to be pretty hot right now – it replaced Blogranks (which is certainly not as popular as StumbleUpon).

PostViews

PostViews is a pretty cool plug-in. It allows you to display stats to show how many people have viewed a particular blog post (or page). I like statistics and I think it’s helpful to see what type of blog posts are more popular than others – then you might want to focus on writing more similar posts.

I put the stats below the title of each post (right next to the date of the post and number of comments). If you have another suggestion for where I should put the view stats please let me know. I don’t think I’ll display the “Most Viewed Post” stats until I have some considerable stats to display ;)

404 Notifier

404 Notifier is the second plug-in I’m using from Alex King.

I think this is a nice way to monitor your blog – to see if everything is working like it’s supposed to. You might discover that people are linking to your blog using an incorrect URL for example. With this handy plug-in you could grab some extra link love and new readers.

Related Posts is a pretty popular plug-in. I believe it helps a lot with keeping readers on your blog longer and thus increasing page views. It also helps with linking posts back and forth (to help the search engines index all your blog posts).

I’ve seen some people putting the “related post” code in index.php so it appears on the main page under each post – I’m not sure I want to do that… does that look “natural”? Well, to start with I’ll have it on single.php and page.php. If a lot of readers also want to see “related posts” on the front page I might add it there too.

On a related note WordPress just launched a new plugins directory. The directory looks smooth and you can see what plug-ins are popular, the newest plugins and those that are recently updated. You can also rate plug-ins and comment on all your favorite plugins.

OK, these plug-ins should spice things up a bit and add value to this blog – both for me and my readers. Are you using any cool plug-ins on your WordPress blog that you think all blogs should have?

Keywords: WordPress, plugins, plug-ins, blog tips, Alex King, StumbleUpon, Blogranks, stats, PostViews, Share This, 404 Notifier, 404, Related Posts, SEO, directory

12 responses so far ↓

Ryan J. Parker // Mar 17, 2007 at 3:04 pm

I nkow of a way cool plugin your blog needs… and not just because I wrote it… ;)

It’s called Show Unread Comments:

http://www.ryanjparker.net/wordpress-plugins/show-unread-comments/
Hannes Johnson // Mar 19, 2007 at 12:09 am

Thanks Ryan – I’ll check it out and maybe I’ll include it in the next WordPress plug-ins installation ;)
Ryan J. Parker // Mar 19, 2007 at 8:30 pm

Let me know if you have any trouble with it. :D
Techified // Mar 20, 2007 at 8:11 am

Sharethis plugin is pretty useful, I found it a bit confusing when trying to install the Related Posts plugin though.
collis // Mar 25, 2007 at 9:39 pm

I should really install that related posts plugin, right now I’m having a weird problem with my blog putting every post on the frontpage too.. Damn blog :-)
Gary Lee // Mar 28, 2007 at 12:37 am

How’s the “Share This” plugin coming along? Have you noticed an increase in clicks to those social networking sites?
Hannes Johnson // Mar 29, 2007 at 1:06 am

Gary – it’s hard to say… I’m seeing in the logs that a few people are saving my posts on delicious – but I haven’t noticed any Diggs or traffic from the other social sites. I think it’ll just increase as the blog grows…
Article Checker // Apr 2, 2007 at 12:34 am

Those are some TIGHT plugins. Thanks for the links. I’ll probably add the sharethis plug in on some my clients’ blogs.
John Winslow // Apr 3, 2007 at 10:13 am

I personally don’t like Share This… but that’s just me, I suppose.

I use Ultimate Tag Warrior so the Related Posts plugin would be redundant.

But, thanks to you, I am going to try out the Postviews plugin…..

Great Page BTW…..
Hannes Johnson // Apr 3, 2007 at 11:23 am

John – yeah, I’ve heard about Ultimate Tag Warrior and I think that’ll be among the next WordPress plug-ins that I’ll install.

The PostViews plugin is pretty cool, nice to see some stats for what posts are popular – but I don’t think it’s entirely accurate. It looks like it also counts robot traffic (software spidering my site).
Jayson Joseph // Apr 4, 2007 at 2:53 am

I am always of the opinion that minimum plugins are better. You never know what compatibility issues are lurking between plugins as I have learned the hard way!

wp-cache, sitemap and related posts are the only ones I have.
Hack Windows // Sep 11, 2007 at 11:42 pm

Very cool, you’ve added some great plugins that will help visitors navigate and share your site!

Hannes Johnson dot Com