Since announcing the launch of TwiTip here on ProBlogger I’ve been asked quite a few times about what WordPress plugins I’ve installed to enhance and add features to the blog.

I still need to add a few more but so far I’ve added the following 10 WordPress plugins:

1. Akismet – a great comment spam plugin. Interestingly I had comment spam on TwiTip that Akismet filtered within minutes of launching the blog on Twitter.
2. All in One SEO Pack – a plugin that helps to optimize a blog for search engines. It gives easy ways to set up title tags, descriptions, keywords (both for home pages but also on individual posts) and a variety of other settings that have an impact upon SEO.
3. cforms – a powerful contact form plugin. It’s a lot more complex than other comment form plugins out there but has a lot more features (some that I’m yet to fully test).
4. Google XML Sitemaps – a plugin to help Google and other search engines to find every page and post on your blog – good for getting a new blog indexed quickly.
5. Simple Tags – extends the built in tags features on WordPress.
6. Subscribe To Comments – a WordPress plugin that allows those leaving comments to check a box and be notified when other people leave a comment on that thread.
7. Tweet This – ads an invitation for readers to Tweet a link to the post they are reading. While I wouldn’t put this on every blog – it seemed a no brainer on a blog about Twitter.
8. WordPress.com Stats – I’m using Google Analytics as my main metrics tool for TwiTip but it doesn’t update in real time so this plugin helps to get a quick update of what’s happening on the blog at any given point in time.
9. WP-Polls – an AJAX polling plugin with some nice features. I’ve previously used the Democracy Plugin but this one seems to be working really nicely so far.
10. WP Ajax Edit Comments – this plugin allows those leaving comments to edit their comments for a short period of time after they leave a comment.

These are just the first 10 that I’ve already installed (listed in alphabetical order and not in order of importance). There are more to come. For example I’ll install Related Posts (pointless at this point as there are only 5 posts on the blog), WP-Navi (again, no point to install it yet as I don’t have enough posts to need a navigation tool) and WP Super Cache (I’m not doing enough traffic to really need it yet).

They are the 10 WordPress Plugins I’ve installed on TwiTip. If you were starting a new WordPress blog today – which plugins would you be installing?

Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger

10 WordPress Plugins for New Blogs

On the page below you’ll find links to a series of how to blog tips that I’ve written with blogging for beginners (and ‘Pre’ Bloggers) in mind. It unpacks the basics of blogging and a lot of the decisions and strategies that you’ll want to consider when setting up and starting a blog.

How to Blog – My Ultimate Guide to Blogging for Beginners

Since developing this series I’ve produced a book specifically for beginner bloggers. You can learn more about it on our ProBlogger the Book page. The book is filled with up to date blogging tips for beginners – you can get it on Amazon here.

3 More Excellent Resources on How to Start Blogging for Beginners

Also – if you are looking for some more personalized help in starting and running a blog I highly recommend that you check out these resources by a blogger that I respect – Yaro Starak:

• Blog Mastermind Blog Mentoring Program – one of the best coaching and training course going around on blogging.
• Become a Blogger Videos – a free series of videos that talks new bloggers through how to set up a blog. Easy to understand and best of all, free.
• Blog Profits Blueprint – a free report on how to build profitable blogs.

Lastly- if you enjoy these posts and want to keep in touch with ProBlogger – subscribe via our RSS feed.

Blogging Tips for Beginners

Introductory Posts

• What is a Blog?
• 23 Questions for Prospective Bloggers – Is a Blog Right for You?
• How to Choose a Niche Topic for Your Blog
• Choosing a Blog Platform
• Choosing a Domain Name for your Blog
• Blog Tools

Blog Design Tips

• Blog Design for Beginners Part 1
• Blog Design for Beginners Part 2

Tips for Writing Content for Blogs

• Useful and Unique Content
• Post Length
• Granular (One Topic) Posts
• Using Titles Effectively on Blogs
• Scannable Content
• Basic HTML Tags
• More on Writing Content for your Blog

Tips on Making Money from Blogs

• Introduction to Making Money from Blogs
• Should I blog for Money?
• Making Money From Your Blog – Direct Methods
• Making Money Because of your Blog – Indirect Methods
• How Much Money Can a Blog Earn?
• Introduction to Advertising Optimization – Traffic
• Introduction to Advertising Optimization – Ad Position
• Introduction to Advertising Optimization – Ad Design
• Introduction to Advertising – Ad Relevancy
• Introduction to Advertising – High Paying Ads

Blog Networks

• Introduction to Blog Networks
• Why Should you join a blog network?
• Why you shouldn’t join a blog network

Other Beginner Blogging Tips

• An Introduction to Using Images on Blogs
• How to Start a Blog Partnership
• Kick Your RSS – Jumping on the Syndication Bandwagon
• Introduction to Trackbacks
• Tag You’re It – Leveraging Tagging for your Blog
• 10 Techniques for Finding Blog Readers
• 19 More Strategies for Finding Readers

Want more Blogging Tips for Beginners?

If you want more blogging tips I can recommend two things.

1. Subscribe to ProBlogger – This blog is updated daily with news and tips relevant to bloggers wanting to improve their blogs. You can subscribe via our RSS feed or via email by adding your email address to the field below:

2. Check out the archives of ProBlogger – Over the last few years I’ve published over 3000 posts and blogging tips to ProBlogger. The links above just scratch the surface. One way to get into our archives is through our Archives Page which highlights the different categories of the blog and suggests some of the more popular posts from DEHE. Alternatively use the search feature at the top of the blog to hunt down the topics you want to know more about.

3. Get into these resources

• ProBlogger the Book – where I and Chris Garrett sum up all of the basic tips about starting up a blog in the one volume.
• Blog Mastermind Blog Mentoring Program – one of the best coaching and training course going around on blogging.
• Become a Blogger Videos – a free series of videos that talks new bloggers through how to set up a blog. Easy to understand and best of all, free.
• Blog Profits Blueprint – a free report on how to build profitable blogs.

Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger

How to Blog: Blogging Tips for Beginners