It only takes a few minutes to setup a new WordPress website, but it takes a bit more time to get your blog ready for visitors. Apart from a responsive theme, you will need to install these must-have plugins on your wordpress blog ASAP!
SEO is extremely important if you want to get traffic to your site. While wordpress does a decent job on its own, you have little control over individual posts or pages SEO. With the All in One SEO Pack plugin you can easily add important SEO meta tags like custom TITLE tags, keywords and description.
The broken link checker is a great addition to your blog which will automatically check for broken links and email you if any are found. This is helpful as some links may change or sites may be shut down. With this handy plugin you will receive an email any time a link is down so you can update asap.
Contact Form 7 is the best way to get contact forms on your WordPress website. This plugin allows for multiple forms and has support for CAPTCHA, Askimet and more.
If you want to make a bigger impact with your audience then you need to upgrade to the Disqus comment system. It is free to signup with Disqus and allows your visitors to comment on your posts as part of a larger social network. It is easier to manage and helps bring more traffic and a bigger audience to your blog.
The FeedBurner Form plugin is an easy way to add a feed update signup form to your blog. Your feed on wordpress will usually be [yourdomain.com]/feed. Go to FeedBurner and setup a free feed. Once that is complete install the Feedburner Form plugin and install as a widget on your site. When users subscribe they will get an email of your newest posts automatically.
Google Analytics is a must have for any website. With the Google Analyticator plugin you can easily add google analytics code for tracking. In addition, you get a snapshot of traffic stats right from your dashboard to keep up with analytics data from your site.
Getting your posts shared on social media is important to gain followers and traffic. I have tested a few share and follow button plugins and Social Media Feather is my top choice. You get tons of options like where to display, button sizes, social networks and others.
To get indexed by Google and ensure the Googlebots return you need a sitemap. The Google XML Sitemaps plugin will automatically create and update your XML sitemap. Once it is all setup you then need to go to Google Webmaster Tools and setup your website property and submit your sitemap. Webmaster Tools is similar to Google Analytics but gives different information and tracking. You can connect your Webmaster Tools to Analytics as well to further optimize your website statistics.
Need to setup a new website or blog? Find out how to setup your own website in just a few minutes.