As a general guideline most errors you'll encounter along with your WordPress blog are the consequence of excessive or incompatible plugins. While many find the choice of essential plugins a conundrum I rely on testing each plugin one-by-one with the newest version of WordPress so I will isolate the issue to ascertain the cause of the slow load times, call function errors or php memory limit warnings. Probably the most valuable tool I will let you know as it pertains to plugins is that when possible look for existing code that will accomplish the exact same result.
Needless to say you can find certain plugins that even I used in my WordPress Blogs. I've compiled a listing below of the top 10 plugins that I take advantage of on a daily basis that I believe will help any tech blog:
* AdSense Now - There are many ad insertion plugins for WordPress, if your tech blog is using AdSense - this is actually the plugin I would suggest https://onetech4.com/.It lets you insert your ad blocks aligned left, center or middle in 3 chapters of a post. Additionally, it provides you with the possibility to suppress ads on pages, category pages, tag pages, archives and more.
* Audio Player - To be able to insert mp3 clips or podcasts into your blog can be quite a problem. Audio Player is really a plugin which makes this process simple - simply produce a music folder on your website via FTP and then upload mp3 tracks to the directory. You can insert the built-in audio player into any of your posts or pages with a simple line of code - painless, simple and easy.
* Facebook Sharecount - It's no secret that social networking sites like Facebook are effective ways to create a fanbase, but being able to harness that power relies on a simple way to generally share your great content. Facebook Sharecount will make it simple for visitors share your posts and monitor your content.
* Foliopress Descriptions - Once your tech blog has hundreds or even a large number of posts you will need a method to mass edit your descriptions. Whilst the importance of meta descriptions is debated https://linustechguru.com/, I still believe that a hand written summary must certanly be written for each post. Foliopress Descriptions supports post excerpt, These and All In One Seo meta description fields.
* Google XML Sitemaps - If you've read my previous post on the best way to get indexed by Google and Yahoo you understand that having a sitemap is essential. This plugin auto generates your sitemap in a nice and neat XML file and let's search engines understand the content on your tech blog. After installing and activating the plugin Google XML Sitemaps will look after the rest.
* NextGEN Gallery - Managing your images and photo galleries can be quite a pain, but NextGen Gallery makes this simple. With features like auto resizing, watermarks, thumbnail creation along with gallery effects - NextGEN Gallery is a must have plugin.
* Star Rating for Reviews - Whenever you run a technology blog in the course of time you'll start receiving products for review. Creating a solid review is just as much about content as it is approximately presentation http://housebeautifully.com/.Star Rating for Reviews lets you create ratings for the products you review or even rate different areas of the product and averages the ratings to ascertain one last score. The possibilities are limitless with the plugin - a must have for everyone looking to review tech.
* TweetMeme Retween Button - If you go through the posts on TechBlogStartup you'll notice an orange Retweet button aligned to the right. The energy of Twitter keeps growing every day so rendering it easy for your reader to ReTweet great content can prove very valuable. If you've installed Google Analytics like I explained in my own previous post here, then you will have a way to monitor precisely how many visitors enter your post through Twitter. If you are wondering why I haven't included ShareThis it's because I manually insert the code instead of utilizing a Wordpress Plugin.
* WP Super Cache - If you've heard of Digg then chances are you've heard of the Digg Effect where a write-up on an internet site becomes so popular so quickly that the flood of traffic to the internet site causes the server to crash. Since WordPress blogs are made on SQL Databases they are highly susceptible to the condition, but installing WP Super Cache can almost eliminate this threat. The plugin builds a cache of your posts and creates a static html page so the server load is reduced and your website can handle more visitors http://allibmblog.com/.If your tech blog is brand spanking new I would install the plugin however, not activate it until I began to see spikes in traffic or one of my articles was picked up by way of a major tech blog like Engadget or Gizmodo.
* All in One SEO - Search Engine Optimization is really a key ingredient to driving organic traffic to your tech blog. Writting great content is key, but when you have created that content you will need to ensure that it targets keywords and includes some basic optimization to ensure it is internet search engine friendly. All in One SEO does this job very well. If you are utilising the WordPress theme I take advantage of (Thesis) then you will not need this plugin, but for pretty much every other WordPressTheme I would suggest installing it straight away so that you can begin writing your custom meta descriptions
Every one of the plugins I've mentioned previously could be downloaded manually and then uploaded via FTP to your blog or you can include them from within your WordPress Dashboard - personally I choose the latter. If you are wondering why certain plugins are not listed on my top 10 list - I just don't locate them essential to a technology blog. You'll observe that I actually do somethings with TechBlogStartup that lots of people use Plugins or Widgets to accomplish - eg. the top 6 articles aligned horizontally at the top of the site or the Recent Posts section in the medial side bar. For tech blogs that receive a big level of traffic, limiting the plugins helps decrease the SQL memory load and if you've ever endured an internet site crash you understand precisely how important this is.
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