I am sure as a new comer to WordPress, you have landed here with all sorts of ideas of what you want to do but quite often no idea how to set about achieving them. I know the first time I saw WordPress I threw up my hands in horror. I was very much an old fashioned person who knew how to use Dreamweaver and load my pages on to a website and the idea of plug-ins was totally foreign. Here we have hundreds of people taking one tiny patch of grass and manicuring it with nail clippers.

The joy of that is that an item is looked at from all sides.  More often than not more than one person has the same idea and two or more different answers come up. This results in us having more than one option to look at to achieve the result we want. There are a few items that really need to go on to the must have list though and when you are new you might not find them easily unless you are pointed in the right direction.

1. I suggest you check out the step by step guide to installing a plug-in. Unless you have done it before you might be like me and hold up your hands in horror.

2. Activate your Akismet Plug-in on WordPress. There is no need to install anything as it is already part of the platform. All you need to do it activate it. This will prevent your blog from being spammed. You will need to go to the site and get your activation key. It is free for personal use and a small charge for businesses.

3. The next is a plug-in which you will need to download and install as per the guide above. This is All in One SEO. This comes in both a free and a pro pack. This optimizes your blog for search engines and is very important. The difference is that there are no adverts with the Pro and it costs $39. It is well worth the cash for the pro version as SEO is one of the most important aspects of any website. If you wish for on going support the costs range for the amounts of months you purchase. For example if you buy a months support you pay $10 but if you buy a years support you pay $49. This is a saving of $71.

4. If you want to keep in contact with people visiting your blog you will require some means of contacting you. For this you will need a contact form. A simple and easy one to use is Contact Form7. This is a free plug-in and has been translated into multiple languages.  It uses the Akismet anti spamming method. You can apply your own needs to the form and place it where you wish on your website blog.  I would suggest you use the above the fold method which all marketers on line recommend. This is one of the hot spots on your page and will get more sign ups. The layout of your page is important as to where viewers’ eyes fall. This is an interesting feature which several websites research.

If you are creating a business on WordPress you might well have a need for an auto responder where people can get double checked for authenticity. What a auto responder does is take the email and send a response to the party doing the input of data and wait for the response acknowledging the email verification before adding them to a list of correspondents. This also has the means of allowing people to take themselves off the list of correspondents if they wish to opt out of receiving further emails.

There are several different Auto responders which one can utilize all or most of which require a monthly fee. Aweber is one of the places which has this program available for you. To install it on you WordPress Blog you need to firstly download the plug-in text from Aweber. Remember this is a WordPress.org option. External plug-ins are not an option on WordPress.com

Once you have joined Aweber you can set up the form you require which will be listed in your forms there according to the name you gave your response. I would suggest you keep it in line with the name of your blog so it’s easy to pick out. When you have your list growing you will then be able to write newsletters or updates about your blog informing your email list as to what is going on your blog. People can well respond for different reasons so it’s a good idea to ask for interests. Some might want information about happenings on a particular subject. This means you would then write an article on the subject in your blog and send out a quick email to that select group that has that interest. You do not want to send it to someone just because they on your list. You might have a variety of subjects on your blog from WordPress to kick boxing.  Someone interested in WordPress would be annoyed to get an email about kickboxing. So make sure your different pages on your blog reflect the type of list they are joining. Aweber makes this possible by giving you the text to put in your join page. It is quite possible to have several different lists on your account each with their own response and list. This makes it easy to keep them separate and specific to a particular interest. You then merely copy the html code they give you and insert it in the designated place on your blog.

A newsletter is a good option for an auto responder. By sending a regular newsletter even if it is once a month is a good way of keeping in contact with your readers. By doing this regularly you develop a connection with them and they become regular return visitors.

Should you want to do this yourself without involving a third party like Aweber there is also a plug-in from WordPress which allows you to do this called WP Responder Email Newsletter and Autoresponder Plugin this involves a little more setting up than a third party program but it is free. If you already have Aweber it is possible to import your contacts from there. There is no license or payment for this service.

Looking to enhance your blog without all the hassle?  Plug-ins offers a low maintenance way to improve the look and feel of your site as well as connect with your audience. 

Here’s how it works.  First copy your plug-in code.  Then, simply paste it into your WordPress plug-in directory. 

Once you turn them on from your Dashboard, these plug-ins can take over from there – just leave all the work to them.  Here are five great plug-ins, which are sure to get the job done.

1. Insights

This versatile plug-in performs all sorts of neat tricks sure to draw in your readers.  Remember, the best way to improve traffic is to offer your readers something they simply cannot get enough of and Insight just may be it.  This plug-in allows your readers to connect with Google Maps, YouTube, Wikipedia and so much more, right from your BlogSpot.  Now that’s convenience that’s sure to draw a crowd!

2. Global Translator

The Global Translator plug-in allows for connections across the globe.  It allows readers to translate blog text into 14 different languages.  This is a great tool for those with the worldwide readership.  Now it’s easy to gain diverse perspectives from readers of all origins and ethnicities.  Your readers will love the flexibility of your site, and you’ll get a larger audience.

3. Ultimate Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a great tracking tool for any website, especially those supporting advertisements.  Now, its features are available right on your blog with the Ultimate Google Analytics plug-in.  This plug-in gives you up-to-date information about who’s visiting your site, where they click from, how often they come, and how long they stay.  This is valuable information for those interested in attracting new and keeping current advertising dollars. Plus, it’s always good to track the details of your traffic from month to month.

4. WP SpamFree

Need a way to take back control of your comment without using the irritating CAPTCHAs?  Look no further.  This simple plug-in prevents automated spam bots from processing on your site and eliminates CAPTCHAS altogether – good for you and great for your readers, too! Nothing out there is really as effective as CAPTCHA, but if you’re more concerned about annoying your users, goes with this.

5. Add To Any

If you’re looking for spreading the word about your blog or your name, the Add To Any plug-in may be your best bet.  This plug-in contains share buttons for synchronized contact with email, social networking site and bookmarking sites.  This includes Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Propeller, Digg Reddit and much more.  You’ll find this plug-in somewhere on almost every website these days, so get on the bandwagon.  This time, it’s highly recommended.

You may not have all the time in the world to design and maintain your blog.  Yet, you adore your readership and would like to keep them around.  Plug-ins are an excellent solution, and these five are sure to be real crowd pleasers.

CMS Tree Page View is a plugin for WordPress that adds useful AJAX tree view every page in the WordPress administration area. Within this tree of pages you can edit pages, pages viewed, add pages, search pages, and drag and drop to rearrange the order pages.

CMS Tree Page View is ideal for sites with lots of pages – allowing users to easily find manager, organize and manage pages. Once activated the plugin, a link to “CMS Tree Page View” is added under “Pages” menu in the admin area. You can also choose to display the tree on the dashboard through the plugin configuration page.

Features

* View and organize the pages using a simple tree view
* Available while on the page and in the dash
* Edit pages directly from the tree
* Add pages anywhere in the tree
* Drag and drop to rearrange your pages
* Search pages
* See all pages – including private pages and projects – or simply to the public
Developed by Par Thernstrom; CMS Tree Page View plugin for WordPress is available for download under the General Public License. You can find more information on CMS Tree Page View Demo and Download  website.

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I had set up a community website using WordPress last week. The website provides a forum (discussion board) for the members. We all know that there are so many online forums on the web that are using platforms like phpBB (free) and vBulletin (paid), but they do not impress me. The paid one especially, is just too much for me.

If you ask me why I use WordPress instead of a regular forum, the reason is because I need to publish news, blog posts, articles, and providing the ability for members to give their comments. We have all of those features on WordPress right?

Thanks to Andy Staines and Steve Klasen, and the plugin that he created called “Simple:Press“, I can have a forum on my WordPress Installation. Installing the plugin is easy, just like any other plugin that we use on WordPress. Simple:Press is using WordPress User Management for the membership system and user registration. To allow people to register, all we need to do is to tick the “anyone can register” under the WordPress Option.

Simple Forum has the “post linking” feature that gives the possibility to create forum topic posts that are based on blog entries and vice versa. This option is only available for members who are allowed to post on the blog, and it can be done while they are making a new topic post. To place the forum feed in the blog easier, we can use the RSS.

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