A good number of bloggers, myself included, tend to talk about blogging. Or, maybe it’s just the newer bloggers getting into the swing of things. At any rate, as you find your way through the blogosphere, you will no doubt find a number of articles and recommendations for WordPress plugins that can extend the number of things you can do with your blog.

I use a small number of plugins. Some I installed based on recommendations from John Chow, while others I installed because I saw them on other blogs, liked them and thought they would be useful.

At the bottom of this post, I have a list of various WordPress plugins recommendations that I have seen in the blogosphere lately. I hope you will find them useful.

Why NOT to Use WordPress Plugins

But, before you get to that list, first let’s discuss why you should NOT use WordPress plugins. I am not saying not to use them at all, but rather to only use those plugins that you feel are absolutely necessary.

Plugins, some more than others, can slow your blog down and speed is of the essence! If something is going to make your blog load slower, then there has to be a tradeoff in that a benefit of comparable value must exist. In other words, if a plugin should slow your blog’s loading time by 1 second, then there has to add significant value to your reader’s experience that they won’t mind waiting that extra second each time they visit your blog (or reload a page or visit another page).

So, test any new plugin you install, and especially test your load times. Make sure that the plugin is offering a good benefit. If not, don’t be afraid to deactivate it! No one is forcing you to use any plugins! It’s your blog: have it your way!

Don’t Use a Plugin Where Hard-Coding Will Work

As I mentioned, I installed certain plugins because I saw them in use on other sites and liked them. Recently, I wanted to add an option to make it easier for readers to bookmark my posts on the various social bookmarking sites, should they want to do that.

I knew there were plugins for that. For example, there is the Digg This WordPress Plugin recommended by John Chow. But, I couldn’t see adding a separate plugin for each social bookmarking site.

I read Average Joe Blogger’s blog and I like the way he has the social bookmarking links at the bottom of each post. No cumbersome graphics that are sometimes hard to identify–just basic text links. So, when he posted his Ultimate List of WordPress Plugins, I checked it out.

But, I didn’t see any plugins related to social bookmarking, so I inquired. Turns out he’s not using a plugin; the links are hard-coded. That sounded like a lot of work, and I inquired further. They are hard-coded, but within his blog template so the links are dynamically updated for each new post. In other words, I thought he had to code the links for each and every post (that’s what I initially thought he meant by “hard coded”), but he doesn’t!

While there are plugins that could do what I wanted, the nice thing here is that no plugins are needed! That should help with load times. And I can change, delete or add links at any time just by modifying my template. A good deal all the way around. Here is the link to Average Joe Blogger’s “How to Manually Add Social Bookmarking Links.” And, see below for a list of social bookmarking sites.

The 3 Questions

Before installing any WordPress plugins, there are three questions you should ask yourself:

1) Is it really necessary? Do you really need the plugin? Is it something that will be a useful tool, or just a passing fancy? Is it something that will add to the user’s experience when they visit your blog?

2) Is there a better way to do it? Do you really need a plugin to accomplish what you want? Is it something that could be coded in your template or elsewhere?

3) Is it the best plugin for the job? Have you shopped around? Compared or tested other plugins? Is there a plugin that has multiple uses that could replace one or more individual plugins?

There is inherently wrong with using plugins, just as long as you make sure they are providing something of value. Don’t just use them because everyone else is! Ensure that it will be something that will add value to your blog!

And, without further ado, here is The List:

The List

List of Social Bookmarking Sites
3spots: 30 Social Bookmarks “Add to” Footer Links for Blogs

The Motherlode of All Plugins
WordPress > Extend > Plugins

All Pumped Up!’s WordPress Plugins

Average Joe Blogger’s “My Ultimate List of WordPress Plugins”

Daily Moolah (dot) Com’s “5 WordPress Plugins That Make Life Easier”

eMoms at Home: What Plugins Should I Use?

FortyPlusTwo’s “Essential WordPress Plugins”

Gabriel’s WordPress New Plugins

Jatecblog’s “5 Useful WordPress Plug-ins”

Kyle’s Cove’s “10 WordPress Plugins All WordPress Blogs Should Use”

Shankar Ganesh’s “4 WordPress Plugins to Spice Up Your Blog’s Comments Section”

Terence Chang’s Comparisons of Selected Widgets
BlogCatalog vs. MyBlogLog vs. Bumpzee: I prefer MyBlogLog, but Terence prefers BlogCatalog. Read his comparison and decide which you prefer. One Man also has installation details for Another WordPress Tracker Plugin.
Plugoo vs. Meebo: I don’t use either of these. There is also Stickam.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 2nd, 2007 at 10:41 pm and is filed under Blogging. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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