WordPress was initially only popular amongst bloggers. The platform of choice for mommy bloggers, technology writers, and gossip merchants, the WordPress platform eventually swelled in popularity and versatility to power small business websites, large membership communities, and even government websites.
If you make the same website design and management decision as hundreds of thousands of other website owners – choosing WordPress, of course! – these four essential plugins will no doubt keep you happy, and keep your business profitable.
1. Feedburner
WordPress includes an RSS function by default, but it is weak, underwhelming, and quite frustrating for high-traffic bloggers and major website operators. While it is ideal for getting your content out there and viewable by five, ten, or even fifty people, websites with large readerships, customer counts, or client bases will doubtlessly want something a bit more powerful.
Enter Feedburner. Now owned and operated by Google – possibly the biggest name on the internet – Feedburner is the syndication platform of choice for millions of blogs and people-powered websites. If you are sending content out to a large audience, this should be the first plugin you even think of installing.
2. Akismet
No webmaster wants spam polluting their website. While WordPress does an effective job of eliminating spam when combined with a good comment plugin, it certainly is not the best anti-spam tool in the world. Thankfully, with a couple of changes and one quick plugin installation, your WordPress website can be safe, secure, and spam-free.
Akismet is by far the most powerful, popular, and user-friendly anti-spam application available for WordPress. If you are sick and tired of annoying “buy viagra” comment handles and spammy self promoters, this powerful anti-spam plugin is a recommended install.
3. All-in-One SEO Pack
What good is a great website if no one can find it? WordPress is an awesome platform for achieving a basic level of search engine friendliness, but it is by no means the be-all and end-all of SEO website platforms. However, with a couple of on-page tweaks and one quick plugin installation, you can be enjoying search engine traffic sooner than you expected.
There are a couple of SEO plugins available for WordPress, each offering value in different areas. For newbie marketers and inexperienced designers, the All-in-One SEO Pack comes recommended. Not only is this search engine optimization plugin user-friendly and simple, but highly powerful and very useful for ranking highly, quickly, and easily.
4. WP Super Cache
If you are experimenting with social media marketing, a dedicated cache plugin is essential. How would you feel if after all your hard work, your website is picked up by Digg, Reddit, or Delicious and ends up going viral, all to the ill-health of your server.
Protect your website from being dragged offline with WP Super Cache. The big online social resources offer huge amounts of traffic, but only for websites that are ready to handle it. This one WordPress plugin can save you hours of potential technical trouble, all for a quick one-minute installation time.
This article is written by Roko Nastic, a webmaster and blogger who writes for WebmasterFormat, a webmaster info website. He enjoys sharing his knowledge about web design, blogging, CMSs, writing and best web hosting services.