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.

If you’re using Twitter for business reasons, you should care. And here’s why:

1. Measure Engagement

Retweets are an indication of how engaged your followers are. If they aren’t retweeting any of your posts, chances are they don’t find them that interesting.

2. Follower Attrition

Some of the folks who are singing your praises now will be gone in six months. That’s because you can’t be all things to all people all the time (and you shouldn’t being trying to). People grow, they change and have different needs as time goes on. New people who follow you because of a retweet they saw will take their place. It’s not personal, it’s just business.

3. Measure Content

Getting retweeted is partially a function of good content. Or at least good headlines.

How To Get Retweeted

1. Be Relevant - A survey conducted by Dan Zarrella found that people share content because they thought it was relevant for someone they know. In other words, try and stay relevant to topics your followers want to hear about.
2. Write Pithy Headlines – On Twitter all we have is 140 characters. How would someone like Shel Silverstein tweet?
3. Include links – Dan also found that retweets tend to have more links. 56.69% of retweets contain a link versus 18.96% of normal tweets.
4. Add your own thoughts – One big limitation with Twitter’s retweets is that you can’t edit the tweet before retweeting. Tools like Seesmic and Tweetie give users a second option of “quoting” the tweet where you can edit it to your liking.
5. Break News – Be the first to share breaking news on a topic. Know beforehand what might be newsworthy before it trends by creating a Google or Tweetbeep alert.
6. Not About You - Dan also found that talking about the color of your underwear won’t get retweeted as much as talking about the color of Madonna’s underwear.
7. Nurture Community – People that create trust with their community tend to be retweeted more than those who lack any connection to their followers. Don’t forget the really simple mind map I showed you yesterday to frame community development.
8. DM a Retweet request – You can also send a private message asking for a retweet. This has to be used sparingly or you’ll quickly drain your social equity account. Also, make it easy and DM a link to the tweet you’d like retweeted.
9. Use your iPhone – The Retweet app lists the top retweets. Retweeting the valuable posts sparingly will increase your exposure to new users.
10. Embed Retweets – Put a “ClickToTweet” link in your email newsletters and particular blog pages. Read “How To Get More Email Subscribers With Embeded Retweets“ for more info.
11. Timing – Dan also found that 4:00PM is the when the most retweets happen. Especially on a Friday.
12. Say Please – Dan also found that saying please also increased the likelihood that someone would retweet your post.
13. Say Thank You – People like to be acknowledged when they retweet your post. Plus it’s just polite.

You’re also using email marketing to build the community on your blog. And you’ve got that down too. You’ve even embeded your Twitter ID in your emails, so almost every Twitter user on your email list is following you.

But wouldn’t it be great if it was easier for folks on Twitter to promote and retweet your email list to their followers? What if, with one mouse click,  they could promote your email list on Twitter?

How To Get More Email Subscribers With Embeded Retweets

In this short video, I’ll cover a 4-step process:

1. Ask your email subscribers to tweet about your email list.
2. Create a custom URL for the landing page where Twitter folks can subscribe.
3. Create an embeded retweet using ClickToTweet.Com
4. Embed the retweet into the request mentioned above in step 1.

LinkedIn presents a wealth of untapped potential for non-profits. It’s the most respected professional social networking site with over 55 millions professionals from 200 different countries. Their tagline says it all: <em>”<a href=”http://www.linkedin.com/static?key=company_info&amp;trk=hb_ft_abtli” target=”_blank”>Relationships Matter</a>”.</em>
Here are a few more tips on <a href=”      http://www.linkedin.com/in/johnhaydon” target=”_blank”>using LinkedIn</a> to promote your blog.<h3 style=”text-align: left;”>Title Are Everything</h3><p style=”text-align: left;”>The short <a href=”      http://www.linkedin.com/in/johnhaydon” target=”_blank”>title of your LinkedIn profile</a> is the first thing that gets seen in searches. Make it interesting.</p><p style=”text-align: left;”><img src=”http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2719/4312996494_5f251ccdf3.jpg” alt=”titles are everything” /></p>
<h3 style=”text-align: left;”>List Prior Lives</h3>If your profile only lists your current position, you’re limiting the power of LinkedIn.
When you include past employers in your profile, LinkedIn automatically alerts you of past colleagues. Including your complete professional history will help you build a network of those prior connections.<h3 style=”text-align: left;”>LinkedIn Email Signature</h3>An embedded email signature is an easy way to promote your skills and experience (and your blog) in the course of doing business.<h3 style=”text-align: left;”>Improve Your Google Rankings</h3>Because LinkedIn profiles <a href=”http://www.johnhaydon.com/?p=185″>rank very high on Google</a>, exposure for your blog goes along for the ride. However, to maximize this potential, select “<a href=”http://www.linkedin.com/in/johnhaydon”>Full View</a>” in your profile settings. Also, customize your public profile’s URL to be your actual name – then put this link on your website and use this link when you comment on blogs.
<img src=”http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4025/4312974616_2db0d94261.jpg” alt=”LinkedIn URL” /><h3 style=”text-align: left;”>Edit “My Website”</h3>LinkedIn profiles allow you to list blogs or websites. Edit the <em>“My Website”</em> section and include your non-profit (select “Other” from the main menu). In addition to your url, edit the text to include keywords for your organization. Again, this will help SEO.
<img src=”http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2768/4312974584_3499709830.jpg” alt=”LinkedIn Anchor Text” /><h3>Import Your Blog</h3>LinkedIn has several applications, including a WordPress blog import. This allows you to feature your most recent blog posts on your LinkedIn profile.
<img src=”http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4046/4312996360_eecde1e353.jpg” alt=”wordpress blog” /><h3>Tweet Your Status</h3>You can also post your tweets to your LinkedIn status. But be careful with this one – especially if you’re on Twitter a lot. Select the option that allows you to pick which tweets you wanted copied over to LinkedIn.<img src=”http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2736/4312260963_58b24a1c06.jpg” alt=”selective tweets” /><h3>What cool thing have you done with LinkedIn?</h3>

I’m amazed by success stories of individuals picking up new clients, receiving a full time job and selling more products because of the way they utilize the Q&A section on LinkedIn.

This post is focused on driving traffic to your blog, but if you harness these principles you will notice more than just traffic as a bonus for your business.  Let’s begin.

Ask Interesting Questions

The more compelling questions you ask, the better each response will be.   If you are trying to promote your blog, then you will want to ask questions about your niche or industry. If you were an online marketer who specializes in email marketing your question might be:

“What is your biggest challenge you face with email marketing, and what is your favorite email marketing provider?”

At the end of your question (where they provide room for additional comments) you could mention that the best answer will win a free 20 minute strategy session from you. Also offer to add their comments to your blog.

Hopefully you already have a reference page on your site with a rating system for the best email-marketing providers. Then you would have many posts regarding best practices on email marketing.

By asking a question, you are peaking others’ curiosity to click on your LinkedIn profile (or the link listed with your question) They would then recognize why you are an industry leader based on the content from your site.

Give Your Best Stuff Away for Free

Answering questions is also a great way to promote your blog.  Not only are you building yourself up as an expert in a certain niche, but you are also increasing views back to your LinkedIn profile.  If setup properly, your profile will direct more people to your blog.

When you answer questions, don’t blatantly try to promote your site. Simply offer the best answer possible that helps that individual solve their issue.

Try to set yourself apart from the crowd of people answering questions that push their products and services.

Give the best answer without pushing yourself, and the right people will be naturally drawn to this; they will check out your blog and become your fan.

Be Yourself

The Q&A section on LinkedIn is just one aspect you should be focusing on to drive traffic to your site.  Joining and creating groups, customizing your websites on your profile, adding your blog to your profile, updating your status, along with other aspects will within LinkedIn will ultimately make LinkedIn a traffic driving machine.

Continue to optimize your profile, stay active, ask interesting questions, and offer great advice for those seeking answers.

Here is a good intro video for Google Analytics.  If you are new to use Google Analytics, this is a good place to start. SBT recommends you use Google Analytics to follow “the numbers” on your site.

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.

From time to time I read a post that causes me to step back for a moment and wonder.  Mainly I wonder if I am getting it.  Am I wrong in my beliefs or my position when it comes to blogging.  So what I do is keep the post open in one of my browser tabs and read it again and again over a week or so.

This very thing happened again 10 days ago when I read a post over at For Bloggers by Bloggers.  The post was “Why the Real Value of a Blog Lies in the Comments.”

Over the last 10 days or so, I have read this post at least 8 or 9 times.  I have thought about it, stewed about it and even visited with some of my most trusted friends who are not afraid to tell me I am full of crap.  I have expressed my concerns about the topic and the fact I don’t agree with the post.  I also expressed my feelings on the fact I thought the post was simply wrong.

While I am never afraid of a good discussion, argument or disagreement. I do try to not publicly express them as much as I would like.

However, for me blogging to promote and market a business is a passion. And it has been for almost 6 years now.  And I felt this topic was too important to remain quiet about.

Caveat:  Remember I am talking about blogging to promote and market a business.  Whether that be a home based business, brick and mortar business, downtown business, professional service firm or the mom & pop coffee shop around the corner. I am not talking about a blog about blogging, marketing blog or a PR blog.

I started blogging to promote and market a business almost 6 years ago.  While there were not many of us blogging in that fashion back then, all of us knew we were on to something.  We were provided a tool, blogging, which we could use to connect with our target market in ways that really had not been done before.  Blogging back then and still is an interactive marketing tool. It is a communication tool.  Best of all, it is a two way conversation we can have between us and our audience.

All of that I agree with and I do agree comments are a huge part of this too.

What I do take issue with were a few of the statements in the post I mention above.  Let me quote the statements which I do take exception with.

Blogging is not just about the comments

[I]t’s not the blog that offers the most bang for your buck, but the comments that follow once published.

And…

…if you’re opening up a conversation to connect to your audience, then there’s only one place that happens – the comments section. And that part of your blog is where the digital gold is melted into shape. (Emphasis added).

While I do agree those statements are true to a point. I do take issue with the position that the comments of a blog post is the only place this happens.  Saying the comments is the only place is a bit of a narrow or naïve point of view.

For a business blog, comments can be a luxury.  In other words, business blogs sometimes get very few if any comments. And if you are blogging to promote and market a professional service firm, you may not get any comments at all.  It is not because your content does not warrant comments. This is just a general fact when it comes to blogging and a business blog.

From my own experience, it is not that people find your content unappealing. Nor they found it boring or anything else.  It is simply because people who read business blogs are mostly looking for information.  They are looking for a reason to contact you for more information.  Or they are looking for answers to their questions and solutions to their problems.

Readers of business blogs are not the same readers who read this blog or Problogger, CopyBlogger, Remarkablogger, Jim’s Marketing Blog, Chris Garrett or any of the other blogs out there about marketing or PR.

Readers of business blogs are our consumers, our customers, our clients and our potential customers and potential clients.

The conversation may take place in other places

So, if the conversation is not taking place just on the business blog, where is it taking place?  A blog is not the only place this happens, period!

Yes, I agree “a blog starts the conversation.”  What I don’t agree with is, the comments are the end of it.  I don’t agree that if a blog doesn’t get a huge number of comments, the blog is not a good blog and doesn’t serve a valuable service to its readers and the business using it as a marketing tool.  What I also take exception to is the narrow point of view that the comments are it.  The goose that laid the golden egg.

The conversation for a business blogger had better not stop in the comments too.  As a business  who is blogging, you want your visitors to become readers and you want your readers to become regular readers. And in the end, as a business who uses a blog to market and promote that business, you want those readers to become either customers or clients. You want them to buy from you.

You post on your blog to get traffic to your site and in turn traffic to your business.  You are educating your customers and/or clients to make them better consumers of your products or service.  You are positioning yourself as the go to place for information.  And if you are providing that information on your blog, your readers come to trust you as a good, up-to-date, relevant source of this information.  Finally, when your reader realize they need to buy your product or service, where are they going to turn, hopefully to you.

Simply put, they are not going to buy from you just because of the comments on your blog.  They are going to buy from you because you answered their questions. They are going to buy from you because you told your story.  You explained how your product or service can provide for their need or solve their problem.

The conversation from your blog post will move right off of your blog and to your store. It will move to your office. The conversation will happen on the phone when they call you because you educated them and provide them with your number on your blog.  They will email you because you used a form on your site they could fill out and ask for help or ask questions.  Or they simply clicked on the link you put in your contact page and emailed you directly.

Consumers are not going to do this as freely in the comments.  Why, because they may not want anyone else to know about their problem or issue. They may not want anyone to know they are looking at buying that new washer and dryer or that new car.  They would rather talk to a person.  And your blog started the conversation, it did not end it in the comments.

And let’s not forget about social media

The conversation also is mobile now. It wonders from our blogs to social media. We see our blog posts discussed on twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn for example.  And those conversations even bring new readers back to the post so they can read what everyone is talking about.

The conversation simply does not happen in one place.  It happens everywhere.  Our job is to start that conversation on our blogs by providing content that gets the conversation going.

Final thoughts

I know this post is going to cause some anger and perhaps even tick some people off.  Good!  Leave a comment and we can discuss it.  I have never not published a comment from someone who disagrees with me.  What I don’t tolerate is flaming of my readers or me.  I do welcome a good discussion.