Sometime back I was asked on the Start Blogging Today twitter chat if I would put out there what my favorite WordPress plugins are.  This is a post that is long overdue for the person who asked for it.

First of all, I firmly believe WordPress is the premier blogging platform. However, WordPress is so much more.  And thanks to all of the premium themes and premium plugins out there, WordPress is more a content management system (CMS) than just a blogging platform. And there are some free plugins providing some amazing features too.

Below you will see my list of some of my favorite WordPress plugins.  Some of them are in my opinion a must have and some are just so handy to have, you have to have them.  They are not listed in any particular order of importance. They are just listed as I was thinking of them as I wrote this post.

My favorite WordPress plugins

Gravity Forms

Gravity Forms is one of those must have WordPress plugins.  When you visit the Gravity Forms site you are going to come to a features page that has 28 features listed.  From inline HTML content to post image fields. Gravity Forms is billed as a WordPress form management plugin. But, in my opinion it is so much more.

Gravity Forms has some nifty add-ons you can get too.  The current lineup of add-ons includes MailChimp, Campaign Monitor and Freshbooks.  However, coming very soon is going to be a PayPal add-on which is going to give the users of this great tool even more options when building forms and best of all, using forms on their WordPress built sites.

And the support and innovation coming from Gravity Forms is unmatched in the premium WordPress plugin world.

You can lean more about Gravity Forms here.

Livefyre

Livefyre gives you the ability to replace your static comments section with a live stream of comments, images, and video.  There is even a built in chat technology.  I never realized how great this comment plugin was until a recent post here on Blog For Profit.  We had over 75 comments on a post and Livefyre truly shined as a great communication tool.  What I really like about Livefyre is the fact it helps you take the conversation taking place on your blog and moves it to twitter and beyond.  This is one plugin you owe it to yourself to check out.

To request a private beta screening, you need to go to the Livefrye site and sign up for the private beta.

Tweetmeme

You have seen it on thousands of blogs, including this one.  You know what I am talking about. It is that button at the top right of this post and all of my post. It is that handy little retweet button.  Tweetmeme gives you the ability to make it easy for your readers to share your content with their followers on twitter.  This one is free and easy to install and setup.

There is also Sexy Bookmarks which is being used by more and more bloggers.  While this social media plugin certainly gives you more options of networks for your readers to share on. I have still not decided if I like it or not. Mainly because of how it looks at the bottom of your post.  I will say this. It is also easy to setup and get going.  And I am giving it a try on one of my test sites too.  You may see me use this on a new blog I am working on and hope to launch soon.

Akismet

Akismet is one of those plugins that is a must have too. And a plugin that should be on everyone’s favorite WordPress plugin list.  Depending on your blog’s traffic and the purpose of your blog will determine whether this plugin is free or a premium plugin.

What is it?  ”Akismet filters out your comment and track-back spam for you, so you can focus on more important things.”  And best of all, it is a no brainer too. You simply set it and forget it.

Yet Another Related Posts Plugin (YARPP)

I know you have seen this plugin in action too.  YARPP gives you a list of posts and/or pages related to the current entry.  It gives you a way to introduce your readers to other relevant content on your site. I use this one on BFP too.  You can see it in action when you scroll down to the bottom of this post and see the box titled, “Like what you’re reading?  You may enjoy these posts too!”

ScribeSEO

ScribeSEO is another plugin I recommend to every new, slightly used and even old timer bloggers.  ScribeSEO will not replace the blogger’s ability to write good content. What ScribeSEO does is help the blogger:

• Optimize content faster
• Choose great keywords
• Preserve reader engagement
• Build quality links
• increase targeted traffic

You can check out more of the details of Scribe SEO by visiting their site.  They also have a free trial you can sign up for to see if ScribeSEO is a good fit for you.

All in One SEO Pack (AIOSEOP)

All in One SEO Pack is another SEO plugin bloggers should not overlook. AIOSEOP gives you the ability to tweak those all important on-page ranking factors. Such as titles, descriptions, keywords and even helps you control the issue with duplicate content.  With AIOSEOP you can do your SEO tweaking on a per post or per page basis.

AIOSEOP has a free and a pro version.  And they even offer some international support with a growing list of translations too.

PluginBuddy

PluginBuddy is more than just one plugin. With PluginBuddy you get access to a huge list of some of my favorite plugins available.  Here is a short list of the plugins from PluginBuddy I use and/or recommend.

• BackupBuddy – Let me put this as nice as I can. This is one you MUST HAVE.  And yes, I just screamed at you.  BackupBuddy is an all-in-one solution for backups, restoration, and migration of your WordPress site.  With this plugin, you can back up to your server, Amazon S3, A FTP/FTPS account, or an email.  You can even use it to import and migrate to quickly and easily restore your site on the same server or even migrate to a new server.  Get it!
• Mobile – There is a lot of talk lately about making sure your site is mobile ready.  PluginBuddy Mobile allows you to easily build an iPhone version of your site in minutes using the built-in style manager, mobile ready themes and custom header uploader.  And it works with more than just the iPhone. In total, Mobile supports 22 different mobile devices.

A couple of others

One plugin I am using on this blog and for whatever reason is no longer available online is RSS Feed Signature.  This plugin allows you to add a customized signature or tagline to your RSS feed.  I am hoping to have some news on where you can get this plugin or at least something similar soon.

Thank Me Later is a neat little plugin too.  This plugin automatically sends a thank you email to those who comment on your blog.  While I like this plugin, you need to be careful using it.

And while I am thinking about and post ing about plugins.  Be watching here soon for announcement of a new WordPress plugin we have coming.  We are still in the early phase of development. So as soon as we can tell you more, we will.

Well, there you go.  12 plugins I use and/or recommend. This is not an all inclusive list.  In fact, I have others I like and recommend too. And we will be updating this list with more soon.  In the meantime, leave your comments with the plugins you use and love and can not live without.

And to keep the FTC from crawling up my butt.  Some of the links above are affiliate links and yes, you will help me pay for Christmas this year if you happen to purchase one of them.

Some time back I received an email from a former client wanting to know if he could stuff his site full of all the keywords he could to boost his placement in search results. Perhaps it is my growing hatred of Google that prompt me to write him back and tell him to pull his head out of his butt. Or maybe it was the fact he was the 4th person to ask me that same question in less then a week.

I have been blogging for over 6 years now. A lifetime when you measure it in an online timeframe. I wonder if instead of using doggie years, we should use one year online equals 10 years or even 15 years of our lifetime. It sure seems that way. However, what has not changed over that long lifetime of mine online is the fact people are still looking for shortcuts to getting traffic, getting customers and getting noticed by Google.

Let me tell you a little secret. There is no freaking magic pill. No top secret way of getting traffic. And no, Google does not control whether you are successful online or not. And if you continue to look for that and think that way, your blog is going to fail. The only living being or artificial life form that determines whether you are successful online is you.

Before we go any further with this post let me be the first to admit however, SEO is important. And you should have a plan in place to take advantage of it and use it. However, don’t get caught up in the old ways and the outdated SEO tactics which just don’t work anymore.

Old SEO Tactics and Misinformation

What we are all after on our websites and blogs is traffic. We want visitors. Some of those visitors should become readers and hopefully, some of those readers will subscribe or become regulars. In the end however, our ultimate goal is money. Seriously, why sugar coat it. We need to pay the bills. Customers and clients are where we get the money. And selling our products is where we get the money. And we have to get them to our sites to accomplish all of that.

Four or five years ago it was a lot easier to get traffic and achieve those high search engine rankings we all wanted. What we were doing however was really gaming the system. Not only have our audiences evolved over the last few years. Search engines have too and this has rendered the old ways of doing things useless for the most part. Like you, I know there are still snake oil salesman out there trying to convince all of us these old, outdated SEO tactics still work. But they don’t. And it is probably this type of hype that prompted that old client of mine to ask me about keyword stuffing too.

The problem is, those still pushing the old ways are providing outdated tactics and spreading misinformation too. And it is this misinformation which needs to stop. And we all need to stop listening to it too.

Old SEO Tactics and the Modern Alternatives

Old ways:

• Keyword Stuffing
• Spamming in Blog Comments
• Search Engine Submissions
• Link Exchanges

The new, improved and modern ways:

Write good, relevant and up-to-date content. How many times have you seen me write that here or others do the same on their blogs? And how many more times do some need to read that before they get it? Stuffing your site’s pages with keywords can actually have a negative impact on your search engine rankings. However, the key to content is the mere fact you should actually be more concerned about writing for the human search engines and not Google. If you write your post so they solve a problem, provide a solution or a product and are relevant, the human search engines are going to find you.

While you should make certain you do put some keywords in your post titles, use good subheadings and put some keywords in the post. Don’t overstuff them. Good, relevant and up-to-date content is going to do way more good for you than keyword stuffing.

Go forth and comment, but don’t spam. I still get on a daily basis too many spamming comments on this blog. And since I moderate my comments, you don’t see them. You know the ones I am talking about however. We have all seen them. “Great post, I agree.” “Good information, thanks for this post.” And my all time favorite, “This is my first visit to your articles, I have book marked it and will return.” With as many times as I see that from the same commenter, I wonder how many first times they have had.

And it is not just their stupid comments that are completely wrong. It is the fact they put in two or three crappy links in the comment too. Or the link they insert in the required fields is nothing but a spammy landing page.

People, this is not the way to leave a comment and everyone needs to stop it.

Rather than be a comment spammer, leave a comment that adds to or produces something of value. Value for both the blogger you are commenting on and the readers who will see it. Creating well thought out, well-written, engaging content is one of the best ways to attract traffic. And commenting is creating content. In addition, if you leave that kind of comment, you are going to get links to your blog too. Because that blogger you are leaving the right kind of comment on is going to notice, investigate you by visiting your site and chances are, they are going to link to you too.

Other readers of the blog you are commenting on are also going to notice if you are commenting right. They are going to also investigate you, visit your site and read your stuff. And guess what, you just gained traffic, gained a reader and hopefully a regular.

Spread your own links around. There are still too many people using the old, wore out method of search engine submissions in an attempt to get noticed. And if you are paying a company to do this for you, you are wasting your money.

The new, modern, best practice of getting noticed instead of this old method is to take advantage of social media. And spread your own links around. Are you on twitter? Write a new post and tweet about it. There are too many tools to mention that will do this for you each and every time you post a new post. And guess what, twitter is crawled by the search engines constantly, so a link to your new post will be discovered in the blink of an eye.

And if you want links to your blog, link out to others. Not in a blogroll, but use organic linking. Link in your blog post.

There is no top secret formula and no magic pill. To get traffic to your blog takes work.

David Risley had a great post on his own blog about this very subject. David provided a great list of activities you can do to get traffic and here they are.

• Make lots of good content.
• Get it out there, while focusing on authority sites.
• Point it all at your blog.
• Get an email list. Use it. Mobilize your subscribers and point them to your blog.
• Say “hi” to other players in your market. Form a relationship and see what happens.
• Rinse. Repeat. Repeat some more.

Look familiar? Content and effort on your part. The keys to getting results.