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This is a guest post by Michael Martine. He is a blog consultant and WordPress theme designer and lives online at Better Blogging with Michael Martine.
If you blog on the WordPress platform, you know about plugins. Plugins are modules of PHP code that we “plug in” to WordPress to enhance and extend its capabilities. But when it comes to choosing a plugin, we discover that there are often several that do nearly the same thing! So how do we know the best one to choose? Here are some tips:
- First, make sure you really need the plugin! Does it help you fulfill the mission of your blog? How does it provide value to your blog’s readers? You should be able to definitively answer these questions, otherwise the plugin might just clutter up your blog’s design.
- Install the One-click plugin/Firefox extension combo so that you can quickly and easily add plugins.
- Make sure it’s compatible with the version of WordPress you’re using. This is especially important now that WordPress 2.3 is out. Check the list of WordPress 2.3 compatible plugins.
- Check the plugin’s installation instructions and other documentation so that you’re sure that it’s going to do what you want. Note whether the plugin requires that you edit WordPress theme files or can be used as a widget.
- Check the date of the last upgrade to the plugin. You don’t want to waste time or mess up your blog with an old plugin that’s no longer supported or developed.
- Read the comments or forum posts for issues. This is probably the most important step you should take, because it will show you what problems people are having, and whether or not those problems have been solved. A forum indicates that a plugin has an active community around it.
- Visit the blogs of those who leave comments so that you can see the plugin at work.
- Test plugins on a test version of WordPress. You can create a folder on your self-hosted site and install a separate copy of WordPress with its own database for testing purposes. You could also install a testing server on your own computer using a package like WAMP
or XAMPP. This way, you can really see how the plugin will behave and what its features are.
I don’t consider this list to be complete, but only a starting point. Have a tip of your own to add? Leave a comment below and help your fellow bloggers choose the best WordPress plugin.
Popularity: 35% [?]
Great article. I’m always on the lookout for new wordpress plugins that will be functional and make my sites better. The ones that I find don’t work right, I get rid of, immediately. There’s no use in having plugins installed that are useless.
[...] Carchar wrote an interesting post today!.Here’s a quick excerptIf you blog on the WordPress platform, you know about plugins. Plugins are modules of PHP code that we “plug in†to WordPress to enhance and extend its capabilities. But when it comes to choosing a plugin, we discover that there are … [...]
Hey David, did you check out this site….looks like a splog to me, same kind of site that was scraping Courtney Tuttle (and now that one is redirecting to some ad page)….and, is your name Carchar?? (lol, don’t think so!
)
Seems like most .info’s are splogs, anyone else notice that?
.info domains are super cheap, that’s why.
Yea many infos are spammy because they are cheap as Micheal pointed out, but there are some that aren’t spammy, so you shouldn’t stereotype against them (I don’t have one, but I just wanted to say that since I know of quality .info sites)
[...] How to Choose the Best WordPress Plugin – “If you blog on the WordPress platform, you know about plugins. Plugins are modules of PHP code that we “plug in†to WordPress to enhance and extend its capabilities. But when it comes to choosing a plugin, we discover that there are often several that do nearly the same thing! So how do we know the best one to choose?“ [...]
[...] How to Choose the Best WordPress Plugin [...]
I totally agree with first statement. I install only plugins I definetly need for my blog.
[...] How to Choose the Best WordPress Plugin By Michael Martine If you blog on the WordPress platform, you know about plugins. Plugins are modules of PHP code that we “plug in” to WordPress to enhance and extend its capabilities. But when it comes to choosing a plugin, we discover that there are … PureBlogging – http://www.pureblogging.com Listen to this podcast Print This Post Email This Post [...]
Thanks for the list of compatible plugins for 2.3. I’ve read about this upgrade has causing problems for some bloggers because of their current plugins.
Thanks for the comments, everyone! Glad you found it helpful. If you liked it, I’d appreciate a quick click to stumble or digg it, thanks!
Very informative post ! Thanks !
i always finding new plug ins but find most don’t seem to work…
Simon, that is exactly what the steps outlined in this article are designed to prevent!
the 2.3 update has been causing some problems for me at a couple of my blogs
ooohhh … some new things for me to try!
Darin
Hi Michael, that makes sense, that the sploggers are using .info because it’s cheap, pretty simple, eh?
I just had an issue this week with a plugin messing up my feed. I’ll be more careful in the future.
Thanks Michael. Your article is very nice and helpful. I am going to store it for reference.
Thanks for the link to the one-click plugin, Michael. I was looking for it but have forgotten the exact name of it.
Totally agree with the opening point, selection of plugin should be in accordance with your requirements!
I use an XAMPP server, and test all my themes and plugins myself.
I dont see any tuts or links to tuts for installing XAMPP, so here’s one that I wrote:
http://www.techzilo.com/install-wordpress-locally/
Heres a tip for you all, make sure you have backups before messing with anything!
Darin
That is is a great tip, and something we always need to be reminded of, so when we do hunt for the perfect plugin, we don’t unwittingly cause any damage.
Is there a plugin for that?I’m too lazy
Hey Michael, what do you suggest which domain has a better chance in google optimization a ‘.com’ or a ‘.info’ or ‘.org’
Your comment isn’t relevant to the topic of this post, sorry.
Make thousands of dollars in just few months (Credit Cards from leading Companies)
Its about referring people to banks who will apply for credit cards. The bank will inturn pay you referral bonuses. The trick is that you get paid even if your friends refer their friends.
Say, you refer 5 of your friends and each of your friend also refers 5 people.
You can make lot of money at each level.
———————————————————————————————————————
levels | Description | Referrals | Money You Earn Per Referral | Money You Earn
———————————————————————————————————————-
Level 1 | Referred by you | 5 | $10.00 | $50.00
Level 2 | Referred by level 1 | 25 | $2.00 | $50.00
Level 3 | Referred by level 2 | 125 | $2.00 | $250.00
Level 4 | Referred by level 3 | 625 | $2.00 | $1, 250.00
Level 5 | Referred by level 4 | 3125 | $5.00 | $15,625.00
Level 6 | Referred by level 5 | 15625 | $2.00 | $31, 250.00
Level 7 | Referred by level 6 | 78125 | $2.00 | $156,250.00
Level 8 | Referred by level 7 | 390625 | $2.00 | $781, 250.00
Level 9 | Referred by level 8 | 1953125 | $2.00 | $3,906,250.00
Level 10| Referred by level 9 | 9765625 | $2.00 | $19,531, 250.00
———————————————————————————————————————-
|Totals 12207030 | $24,423,475.00 Total
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You can refer any number of people you desire. Its really easy.
Checkout following url: Click Here
David long time no post? the comment above mine is a spam
Your article is nice. I usually not use the new version of wordpress, because it will have many plugins cann’t compatible with the new version.
Hi Al
I want to do this credit card referrring. How do i go about it.
Looks like a good part time option.
Where are you ????
Long time no post.
anyone home?????
I’m here, but I don’t know what’s going on with David. I don’t have the permission to delete the spam comments.
“4. Check the plugin’s installation instructions and other documentation so that you’re sure that it’s going to do what you want….”
yesterday i setup “Related tags” plugin to my blog. And lost my database =((
That is unfortunate. This post isn’t meant to instruct on the process of installing a plugin, just how to pick one.
You should always back up your database before installing any plugin.
Michael – Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Being the last in line, so to speak, this is all I can add without addressing the insipid, oh, never mind.
Thanks for sharing. Really useful!
[...] http://www.pureblogging.com/2007/10/01/how-to-choose-the-best-wordpress-plugin/ [...]
Thanks for all the info, was very helpful.
Where are you Micheal !! it’s a been almost a month and no new posts.
Alopecia, I can’t publish my posts; I can only save them. Only David can publish them, and he seems to be MIA at the moment. I think I’ll send him an email and see what’s up.
You can always see what I’m doing at Remarkablogger!
Thanks for all the info, was very helpful.
Thanks for all the info, was very helpful.
One month.. NO POSTS!?!? Whats up Dave!?
Sell me this blog. PM me on my forum
Great post but i’ve always been testing plugins on my actual blog. Never thought of having a test server. Thanks for the info.
With so many plugins and lots of confusion on them I like your advice on only utilizing the ones you can absolutely see benefiting your blog/site. Good advice for new and seasoned webmasters
*knock* *knock* David????
Hi,
Excellent article, and I really think that you hit the nail on the head when you suggest that folks should only download the plug-ins that they really need and want to use.
Otherwise, the admin area of your blog tends to get awful crowded!
Steve
The most simple way is to contact known bloggers and to ask them advice =)
[...] http://www.pureblogging.com/2007/10/01/how-to-choose-the-best-wordpress-plugin/ [...]
where’d you guys go?!
[...] Michael Martine on http://www.pureblogging.com/ is my last one for this week It is a useful list of how to choose the best wordpress plugins. And my favorite tip is No 8.Test plugins on a test version of WordPress which I do often before I [...]
I´ve lists up must-have WP-plugins on my blog too. It´s hard to find the best within thousands of plugins availabe.
Thanks for the good tips..
good content!
[...] what features (via plugins or widgets) you want for the blog and implement [...]
In my opinion you need to know 2 thing while choosing quality plugins for Wordpress.
First: what do you want? Do you want to optimize your website well for the search engines or do you want to get your traffic on another way such as offline marketing?
Second: what do I really need? If you have some plans you can choose better and specificy what kind of plugins you need. Wordpress is perfect, but I think only if you want to optimize your website very well for SEO you need some plugins otherwise it is enough what Wordpress already standard has.
Good information, I am just getting started with Word Press.
The 3 points you need to survive which is important if you want to choose for WordPress:
1) Why?
2) How?
3) What?
I think I have to admire this information about Wordpress pugins. I must Admit, my conculeagua MSN hacken above me told some interested opinions for us.
Xocai is fantastic, low in sugar content and fat but still tastes awesome!! The business opportunity looks interesting.
I use opera. There is plugin for opera?
[...] http://www.pureblogging.com/2007/10/01/how-to-choose-the-best-wordpress-plugin/ [...]
i wish i ad a website like this one.very useful info