This came up in a Facebook conversation and within the space of a few comments, I learned about two new plug-ins I’m now using on this site. I realized that it might be helpful to someone else to know what plug-ins I use, so I’m going to list them here and give you a little bit of explanation as to why I’m using them.
I’m always on the lookout for cool new things, so if you are using plug-ins I haven’t mentioned, please let me know! Thank you in advance.
Antispam Bee
This is one of the new plug-ins I heard about in the Facebook conversation. (Thanks, Hannah Steenbock.) I’ve used other spam filters with varying degrees of success. One blocked EVERY comment, whether it was legitimate or Ugg spam. Another didn’t block anything but made sure people had to do one of those stupid Captcha’s. This one, so far, is working great.
Favicon by RealFaviconGenerator
This one gives me my little tiny picture in your tab up there at the top. I created my favicon using a free favicon generator I found with Google. I made the picture in GIMP and then converted it on the website. Cool, huh?
Instapage
This is a landing page generator. Basically, it gives me the opportunity to create a page for a specific audience and gather email addresses for my newsletter in exchange for a freebie. In this case, I have a short story available for those who want to subscribe to my newsletter. The link is here if you want to see it. http://jenniferponce.com/DevanyMillerSeries It gives me stats, too. So, for instance, it just told me that five people have visited the link and three have given me their email address for my newsletter. (Thank you, folks!)
Jetpack by WordPress.com
This thing does a lot. It provides the cool things on the right hand side of my website, like the newsletter subscription box, the list of my favorite author blogs, my Facebook likes, my Twitter feed, etc… It comes with WordPress, but you still have the option whether or not to use it. I’d use it, if I were you. It’s a good plug-in to get started with.
Link Manager
The link manager helps me organize the links to my favorite author blogs and sites. I can put them all into this plug-in and then Jetpack helps me show them off on the sidebar.
MailChimp for WordPress Lite
This connects my WordPress site with MailChimp, which is how I manage my newsletter and email list. When someone signs up for my newsletter by typing their email into the sign up box, it automatically goes to MailChimp because of this plug-in. Super easy.
MyBookTable Bookstore by Author Media
This one is pretty cool. I add in my book information to this plug-in and tell it how I want it to display my books. It made the pages for me and linked my books to Amazon, so folks can just click on the link to buy my book.
Wordfence Security
This is the other plug-in I learned about yesterday. It basically keeps my site safe from hackers. Thank you again, Hannah Steenbock!
WP Site Verication tool
This one you need if you want to use Google’s analytics. It’s pretty simple to use. Download the plug-in, get the verification code, and voila.
Yoast SEO
This plug-in helps you optimize your blog posts. It will analyze your posts and pages to make sure they are easier to find for folks looking for content like yours. It has you pick a keyword and guides you through steps you can take to make your page better.
There you have it, the plug-ins I’m using right now. If you have suggestions for others or you know of better alternatives, please let me know. What do you have running on your site?
Have a good one,
Jen
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