Thirteen More “Lesser Known” Helpful WordPress Plugins

Here are thirteen more useful plugins for your consideration:

1. Admin Theme Preview

Want to try out a new theme but do not want to make it live and visible to readers while you consider whether to implement and/or modify it? This is a must-have plugin! It allows you to preview any theme you have uploaded while your existing theme remains live.

2. BlogRush Click Manager

You can decide whether to include a particular post in the BlogRush feed, as well as give it a unique title designed to attract readers when it appears in the BlogRush widget on other sites. Since BlogRush automatically allows only 40 characters in post titles, this can be extremely helpful. The number of characters used is displayed in order to help you stay within the limit.

3. CommentLuv

This verbiage appears just beneath the comment “Submit” button below:

The CommentLuv plugin parses each commenter’s feed and displays a link to their site’s most recent post. Please be patient as it may take a moment for the plugin to fetch the information. Thanks!

The link beneath some of the comments to that visitor’s last blog post is courtesy of CommentLuv! It’s a great way to give some link love back to your readers. Note, however, that it only works with Feedburner. So if your visitor has not burned a Feedburner feed for their site, the link will not appear.

4. Different Posts Per Page

This plugin gives you the flexibility to direct how many posts will appear on your front page, as well as archive and search result pages. For instance, I have five posts on the front page, but if you perform a search, you will see up to 20 post excerpts on each results page.

5. What Others Are Saying

In the sidebar, I invite you to “Check Out These Other Great Sites!” There I display the most recent post from some of my favorite blogs. How? It is so simple using Sarah’s wonderful plugin! Just install it and then insert the feed address for your favorite sites in your blogroll. Under “Blogroll Management,” expand the “Advanced” tab and place the address on the “RSS Address” line. Every three hours (by default), the feeds will update. Again, this is a great way to kick the blogroll concept up a notch and spread some link love.

6. Trackbackers

Speaking of link love . . . in the sidebar, I say “Thanks for the Link Love!” using this plugin. When another site links back to yours, “if their server is configured to send a trackback (and most all blogging software is), your blog will be notified and that trackback will display on your site.” This plugin counts the number of times a site has linked to you and displays the ten who link most often (default value).

7. Digg This

Want to let your readers know when one of your posts has been Dugg? This plugin detects when a particular post has been Dugg at least once and appears. If it has not yet been Dugg, the Digg badge is not displayed.

8. Shortcut Macros

Alex King has written several really great plugins and this one is no exception. If you link to the same websites from time to time, you can set up a macro, enter the code into a post or page, and the link will magically appear! So, for instance, I have set up a macro labeled “##hl” which will automatically insert a link to my other website and save me from having to type the full code, <a href=”http://www.jhsiess.com/hereslookingatme”>Here’s looking at . . . me!<a> each and every time.

9. WP-Page Navi 2.20

Want to provide your readers with greater flexibility when navigating your site? Just add one line of code to the theme’s footer and activate this plugin. Visitors will be able to see the total number of pages that make up your site and review each one sequentially or jump to a specific page. You can customize the appearance via the WordPress plugin editor. You can see it in action at the very bottom of this page.

10. Delink Comment Author

Perhaps a visitor left a nonobjectionable comment along with a link to a site that you do find objectionable. Once again, Alex King has provided a solution. This plugin allows you to simply remove the link while retaining the comment.

11. WP-Print 2.20

Your readers may appreciate your articles so much that they want to print them to read later or share with friends. Just click on the link that appears under every post and a new window will open displaying the article in printable format, along with a summary of all links contained in the article.

12. KB Advanced RSS

How did I get the lists of my recent Stumbles and Diggs into the sidebar?

Did you know that your Stumbleupon home page has an RSS feed link in the lower right corner? If you log into Digg, visit your Profile page and click on the “History” tab. You will find the orange RSS icon right next to the drop down box. Just grab the address of the feeds by holding your mouse over the icons — the address will appear in the lower left corner of your browser window.

Yes, WordPress features built-in RSS widgets, but there is no flexibility. By installing the KB Advance RSS widget, you can control the title, icon, number of items displayed and add HTML code to style the way the feed items appear.

Just enter your RSS feed address and you can display all the pages you have recently Stumbled or Dugg, yet again giving a shout-out to your favorite sites.

13. WordPress Upgrade Preflight Check

Have you upgraded to WordPress 2.3 yet? If you are feeling unsure about whether or not to upgrade, you can utilize this plugin to check your site and pinpoint any potentially incompatible themes and plugins.

Is there a plugin you use on your own site and/or have developed that is not listed here? Leave a comment with a link to the site where it can be downloaded!


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