20 WordPress Plugins that Marketers Can’t Live Without
Recently, in a forum thread some of the affiliate marketer members discussed their favorite WordPress plugins that had been the most effective for them.
Based in part on the conversations that took place on this forum, we were able to put together a list of the top 20 plugins that marketers cannot live without. Whether you use one or all twenty of these, they will, in most cases, give your WordPress sites the extra boost that they deserve.
1. Exec-PHP
By using shortcodes, this plugin executes all of the reusable PHP code that is on your page. It allows you to organize, test, and and reuse all of your PHP code including that code in posts and widgets.
2. Google Analyticator
With this plugin, your site gets the JavaScript that it needs to enable Google Analytics logging. It also contains widgets that allow you to display Analytics data in the admin and on your blog.
3. Pretty Link
Pretty Link lets you display links how you want them to look. You create the look of each link and can even use your own domain name while Pretty Link tracks the stats behind the hits on each link.
4. WP-Polls
This is the ideal plugin for anyone who wants to have a poll on their site.
5. phpBay Lite
If you rely on Ebay for any of your business, this plugin will help you to maximize every aspect of targeting Ebay traffic.
6. Facebook Like Thumbnail
When Facebook changed their like button so that it acted more like a share button, they also changed how they displayed the thumbnails. Now, you can control the thumbnails that people see just the way that you want to.
7. Subscribe to Comments
With this plugin, you give your readers control over which comments, which posts and which notifications they want to receive emails about.
8. W3 Total Cache
W3 Total Cache improves the performance of your server so that your readers get a better experience. The plugin relies on tools like caching and content delivery network integration and support.
9. WordPress SEO by Yoast
If you are ready to optimize your site’s SEO, this is the most complete plugin for the job. It optimizes everything from the page’s content to its images to its meta descriptions and more. (My favorite plugin!)
10. ManageWP
If you have more than one site, this is the tool that will keep them easily organized and accessible.
11. Gravity Forms
This allows you to create, build, and make live your WordPress forms easily in minutes. Its built-in tools allow you to configure your choices and embed your forms easily.
12. Dynamic Widgets
You make a few selections about when and where you want your widgets to appear, and this plugin makes sure that your widgets are only where you want them to be.
13. GD Star Rating
Now, you can let your readers rate and review your articles with this plugin that includes optional sidebar widgets that allow you to display stats created by this plugin.
14. Duplicate Post
With Duplicate Post, you can clone any page and make it into a completely new draft.
15. Intense Debate
Make the most of the comments and conversation on your site with this plugin that includes easy moderating tools, tools to integrate the conversation with sites like Twitter, and much more.
16. Microdata for SEO
This installs a button that allows you to create a Microdata Code within your post or page.
17. Simple Social Plugin
The icons that come with this plugin allow your readers to share your content on Twitter or Facebook with the touch of a single button.
18. WordPress Database Backup
As the name suggests, you can back up all of your data with this plugin.
19. WPTouch Pro
You can create unique sites for mobile browsing with this plugin.
20. Use Google Libraries
You can take some pressure off your server and increase your chance that someone has cached your files with this plugin that is linked to Google’s AJAX Libraries API.
Missy Ward
24 COMMENTS
I simply want to thank you for sharing this list with neophytes like myself. I am always amazed at the kindness of folk like you who educate folk like me. It makes me remember to “pay it forward”.
Thank you.
Lyric
Awesome content here. I didn’t even know about a couple of these, and I have been doing this for quite a while. Thank you for this post!
Hey Missy,
Thanks for sharing these. I also use Auto Affiliate Links that is free and you can set it up to link specific keywords. It is possible to set all links to “nofollow” so you are not ruining the SEO reputation of your WordPress site. Good for a non-techie like me.
Hey Missy,
Great site!
Been browsing for about and hour and see you’ve packed much great info into your blog!
This plugin post is also very helpful! Got me thinking if it’s time to switch out my ‘old’ seo plugin?
I’ll be back to search through more of your entries!
Thanks for sharing & your hard work!
TJ
Great list, Missy.
I love Pretty Link Pro, CommentLuv Premium, BackupBuddy, and I use a number of WPMUDev plugins.
I also use Thesis 2.0, which makes some plugins unnecessary.
Nice list of Plugins.
There are so many out there, it can be a little hard at times sorting out the ones that get the job done best…
Another few helpful plugins(not quite for Marketing, though, very useful)..
Permalink finder.. Stops you from having “page not found” or “404” page returns on your site…especially after doing a site restructure…or having just moved your sites location…
Broken link checker.. Checks your site for broken links and missing images, then leaves a message on your WordPress dashboard….
AntiSpam Bee…… For those who wish to try out a great ” free” Askimet alternative…
I also give my vote for two plugins you have listed, W3 total cache and WordPress SEO by Yoast….
There are plenty more very useful plugins out there….
Excellent plugins and about all you need to run a good wordpress setup and rank highly. There are better seo plugins but only if you plan to post regularly.
Nice list. Couple of suggestions for making SEO a little easier:
WordPress SEO
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wordpress-seo/
All-In-One SEO Pack
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/all-in-one-seo-pack/
Both do a similar job but All-In-One is more advanced and has support for Custom Post Types and WP e-Commerce sites.
Great list. I love posts like this. I will definitely check these out!!
Thanks Eric.
Hey Missy, great list. I would like to add Sharexy. It is a very clean, easy on the eyes, social media button set that integrates nicely into a page. It eliminates all the different size buttons giving them all a nice uniform look. See you next week!
Thanks for the info! I’ll check it out. See ya in Austin!
Has anyone checked out products from WpSmartApps?
Immediate List Building Pro – a list building solution but very easy to navigate.
Readers From RSS 2 Blog – converting your blog rss feed into a blog lookalike and much more.
Oh — very cool. I’ll check those out too!
Very nice list, Missy
I’d also add Banner Wizz for in-post banners and Shareaholic for social sharing across different platforms.
Hey Geno. I’ll check out Banner Wizz for sure. I used to run Shareaholic on this blog and ran into so issues at the end of March with some iPad users who couldn’t share anything. Rather then spend time troubleshooting I simply switched to Social Sharing Toolkit which I’m still currently using. Do you know if the issue still exists?
I’ve just tested it (between my AM Navigator blog and my daughter’s iPad), and it seems to work well now.
Thanks Geno. I may have to give that a second chance because I really liked that one, too
Test drove Yoast’s SEO plugin and it works like a charm. The great thing is it inaerporctos everything from a snippet preview and page analysis functionality that helps you optimize your pages content, images titles, meta etc.
Great list Melissa, I haven’t heard of some of those so I guess I’m gonna have to go check those out. One more I’d add (if you don’t mind me sharing)is the broken link checker. This routinely scans your site and reports back any issues with links. It’s been great for me to help get notifications of any images that have gone missing or sites that have gone down I’ve linked to.
I’ll have to call you Joshua now, Josh! The only person that calls me Melissa is my Dad and it’s only when I’m in trouble and it’s usually followed by my middle name; Diane
Thanks for the tip for Broken Link Checker, too!
Nice plugin. I just ttesed it yesterday. What is great is that it incorporates everything from a snippet preview and page analysis functionality that helps you optimize your pages content, images titles, meta descriptions etc.
Broken Link Checker is great but it takes a ton of memory to run. For me, it crashes my sites.
ooh — not good. Thanks for letting me know!