PureBlogging

Anyone who uses WordPress knows that one of the best things about it is that it allows you to really customize your blog through the use of plugins. Many of these plugins merely customize things on your end as a blogger but aren’t seen by your readers. Common examples of these types of plugins are WordPress.com Stats, Google Analytics and All in One SEO Pack.

However, there are some plugins that you can get that will actually change your site and get more attention from the people who read your blog. Here are 5 examples of WordPress plugins that really make your site pop:

1. podPress. Let’s face it; podcasting is in. If you want to make your site sizzle, you need to add some sound to it. A podcast is also great because it allows you to speak directly to your reader. This plugin makes it super simple for you to add a podcast to your existing WordPress blog so you can start incorporating this feature without making any serious changes to your site.
2. FlogMaker. It’s not just audio sounds that are hot. Anything that gets the attention of readers on a site can be used to increase traffic. Flash is a perfect example of that; people are more interested in a flash site than a more basic site. FlogMaker allows you to easily turn your WordPress blog into a flash blog.
3. Polaroid on the Fly. Hopefully you’re already using images on your blog since a blog with pictures tends to get more traffic. Make those pictures stand out from all of the rest of the images on the blogosphere by using this WordPress plugin that creates Polaroid-style thumbnails within your posts.
4. zLinks. There are only a few links plugins that really make a difference in appearance to your readers. This is one of them. What it does is shows the reader information about the link that can be found elsewhere on the web. In this way, you provide your readers with additional information while creating more widespread links from your blog.
5. WP_MonsterID. This plugin does something interesting; it creates a monster-style avatar for every person who leaves a comment on your blog. You’d be surprised by how many people will start leaving you comments just to see what avatar gets created for them. If the monster theme isn’t right for your blog, search through the plugins to find some of the other avatar creators that are out there. Gravatars is a popular one.

WordPress plugins are important on the blogging end of things because they assist you with tracking statistics, organizing information and managing your blog. However, an increasing number of plugins are creating an experience that’s different for readers as well. Using these, a simple WordPress blog can be turned into something that’s worth talking about.

Related links: Top WordPress Plugins, Top WordPress Plugins For the Smart Blogger, 50 Best WordPress Plugins For Power Blogging

Question of the Day: What’s your favorite WordPress plugin?

Popularity: 17% [?]

Some of you may have already found this plugin but for everyone else, here is a WordPress plugin that can really save you some time.

If you run several blogs then you know what a pain it is upgrade each time a new version comes out. Well, there is another way. I downloaded and installed InstantUpgrade on a blog that desperately needed an upgrade and was able to upgrade WordPress 2.1.2 to 2.3.1 in about ten seconds.

InstantUpgrade is a plugin for WordPress, which will perform automatic upgrades of a WordPress installation with a single click. You can upgrade to the latest WordPress version, or you can upgrade to a version of your choice. The plugin downloads the chosen WordPress version, unpacks it, deletes the old files and inserts the new ones. All these actions don’t require funky PHP extensions — they are all handled by the InstantUpgrade plugin.

This plugin might be of special interest for you if you installed WordPress for a friend or a customer with no knowledge of FTP, PHP and MySQL. But of course, everybody else will surely also apprechiate easy and instant upgrades.

Documentation, screenshots and downloads are available from the author’s homepage.

Popularity: 23% [?]

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:

1. 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.
2. Install the One-click plugin/Firefox extension combo so that you can quickly and easily add plugins.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. Visit the blogs of those who leave comments so that you can see the plugin at work.
8. 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% [?]

Are you ready WordPress 2.3? The new version is now in feature freeze and the first public beta of WordPress 2.3 is scheduled to be released today.

According to Ryan Boren:

WordPress 2.3 went into feature freeze last night in preparation for its eventual release on September 24th. From now on we’re concentrating exclusively on testing and bug fixing. We are scheduled to release the first public beta of 2.3 this coming Monday, August 27th. We’ll be doing a new beta release every Monday and bug hunts every Wednesday. On September 17th we enter a hard freeze and release the first release candidate.

WordPress 2.3 includes several new features including tagging, improved post and draft management, and plugin upgrade notification. It will be interesting to see how tagging has been implemented in the new version.

A calendar of events for the release can be found here.

Popularity: 17% [?]

Would you like to streamline the task of managing your WordPress blog? Well, have I got a list for you… Mashable has a list of 50+ tools for the WordPress Admin that is loaded with plugins that can help you with your daily blogging tasks.

Running your Wordpress blog can feel like a full-time job sometimes. We’ve compiled an A-Z list of more than 50 plugins to help you streamline everything you need to do out back. As with any plugins list, don’t install them all at once!

I don’t have any need for most of these plugins but I will certainly test a few of them.

Popularity: 16% [?]

As many of you know, I’m a big fan of the Comment Relish WordPress Plugin. I installed it here in April and have found that it not only gives you another opportunity to thank your readers, it’s a great conversation starter and has even led to a few very important relationships being formed with other bloggers.

Unfortunately, some bloggers have reported that the plugin causes some pretty serious issues when they try to install it. John Chow reported that it actually crashed his server. That’s not good…

Well, there is an updated version of the Comment Relish Plugin available from PatchLog that reportedly fixes the server load issues. I’ve upgraded this morning and everything seems to be running smoothly.

If you have had problems in the past, I would recommend upgrading to this new optimized version.

Popularity: 14% [?]