20 WordPress Plugins for Successful Internet Marketers
Every day I’m always thinking to myself “how can I make my blog better”… I would be silly not to. The more time, effort and money I put into it, the better the site will be. It’s amazing how a WordPress Plugin can make such an improvement to a site, or save you so much time, for example the Amazon Affiliate Link Localizer, that plugin makes every amazon link an affiliate link, I was quoted $200 for someone to update the links on one of my blogs but now I can do it for FREE and it would take me 2 minutes.
I hope you enjoy the plugins, let us know which ones you use and why…
WordPress Plugins That Will Make Your Blog Better!
#1 Amazon Affiliate Link Localizer Plugin
Why You Need It:
This is an amazing little plugin to get hold of; if you are an affiliate marketer you will want to read this one for sure. The Amazon Affiliate Link Localizer basically changes any Amazon link within your site to use your affiliate ID. So if you have any Amazon affiliate links on your site, but you aren’t getting as many sales as you had hoped for this may be just the plugin for you. Users are notorious for sticking to their native roots so a UK user may discard a link to a US page; this is for a number of reasons we won’t go into but as a quick example, many discard the links purely because of the postage and packaging costs as well as the delivery time. This plugin will see to it that your users get to the right place.
#2 Contact Form Plugins
Why You Need It:
Gravity Forms have come up with this fantastic little plugin which is great for perfecting your use of forms within your site. Forget all the boring and arduous coding and designing that usually surrounds the topic of form building; let Gravity Forms help you create clean and usable forms in minutes. It really is pretty simple; you decide what you want in the form, you decide what colour and design it should be and you’re good to go. It is a fast and easy way to create professional looking forms.
Click Here To Find a Contact Form Plugin
#3 Google XML Sitemaps Plugin
Why You Need It:
This is just great for those of you that don’t want to get your hands dirty with some additional coding. It basically allows you to create an xml sitemap which you can add to your blog. This is great because it helps with SEO allowing the search engines to index your site a lot easier. It is definitely a big time saver and is a worthy tool to incorporate on your site.
#4 Podcasting Plugin
Why You Need It:
If you enjoy recording audio files for your blog then this may be just plugin you have been searching for. Podcasting Plugin is great for bringing your audio files from the desktop to the website; it also has a fantastic player included so your visitors can hear you right on the page without having to redirect them to itunes or some other program. There’s zero friction as they stay on the website, which means lower bounce rates as well as great content for your site. Get this plugin if you want to make a noise on your site.
#5 W3 Total Cache Plugin
Why You Need It:
This is an essential add-on that you will definitely want to download if you want your site to run smoother and faster. W3 Total Cache greatly improves the performance of your website by caching everything from databases to pages, this makes your server run through your sites content and in turn loads them up to your readers browser faster than ever. This is a very well-known and well respected plugin; used by some of the best sites online.
#6 Studiopress Simple URL Plugin
Why You Need It:
If you use affiliate programs, or even if you just don’t like long and ugly url’s on your website; then this plugin is very much a golden nugget for you. Simple URL’s basically shortens those ghastly, long URL’s to a more manageable bite-size version. It also allows you to track each link individually; so you can see how many times it has been clicked, if you are into your statistics you will love this plugin.
#7 Nelio A/B Testing
Why You Need It:
Strange name, but this is a great plugin. Nelio is basically a plugin that allows you to A/B test your site. It helps you to decide upon such things as; design, layout and even the content within your site by testing alternative variations. This A/B testing plugin was built within WordPress from the ground up, so you know it is reliable and compatible right off the bat.
#8 SEO Friendly Images Plugin
Why You Need It:
SEO is at the top of all website owners lists and it should be too; this plugin will help you to get the most out of your sites SEO. Instead of going through the usual rigmarole of creating new alt and title tags for each image you insert into your site you can sit back and relax. After uploading your images Friendly Images will automatically give you all the tags you need. A great time saver.
#9 SEO Smart Links Plugin
Why You Need It:
If you struggle with SEO then this is another great plugin from the same company that brought you Friendly Images (above) this plugin can automatically link phrases and keywords from within your blog posts and comments to all corresponding content within your blog or website; including related posts, pages and categories. Another brilliant time saving tool.
#10 All In One SEO Pack Plugin
Why You Need It:
Another great SEO plugin used by many of the top bloggers online. The All in One SEO Pack is a tool which allows you to create effective SEO for your site automatically (you do have to do a little work though). It is a very well built and in depth service which provides you with some great ways to tap into your SEO which may have been hidden to you before. This will save you some time; as well as helping you to perform better user searches. Another great alternative is the WordPress SEO plugin from Yoast; currently in Beta testing mode this is certainly one to watch out for, Yoast is highly regarded in the SEO world so I’m sure this plugin will be great.
#11 SEO Made Simple Plugin
Why You Need It:
We’ve got a few other SEO specific plugins, but we wanted to add this into the mix because it’s too good to miss out completely. SEO Made Simple from Scribe is a brilliant little plugin which again allows you to create some really effective SEO campaings to your site; in turn making you more visible to the search engines. It works by showing you the type of language users are using in their search to help you add it to your SEO campaign as well as revealing some keywords and phrases within your own content that you may have missed. It also helps you to build up your back links as well as showing you where to find the influencial users on the social media circuit. Brilliant.
#12 Feedburner Plugin
Why You Need It:
Feeds are important to any blog or website, and sometimes the jargona can get in the way of creating an effective feed stream for your site; your saviour: Feedburner. Feedburner is a web management plugin which provides custom RSS feeds for your blog/website as well as some very handy tools for creating effective feed campaigns. It’s easy to use and a very well recognised plugin.
#13 WPtouch Plugin
Why You Need It:
You need this plugin if you want the new generation of mobile/cell phone users to gain access to your site via their smart-phone. In layman’s terms this plugin will take all of your sites content and roll it up up into a neat little package ready to throw at the first smart-phone user that stumbles onto your website/blog. Wptouch allows integrated access on all the major platforms; Apple, Android and Blackberry, as well as a few more choice additions. This is a neat plugin and will give you the edge if you are looking to go into the world of mobile marketing.
#14 Comment Notifier Plugin
Why You Need It:
This little beauty is perfect if you have more than one administrator, moderator or editor; it allows all parties of your workforce to be notified when a new comment has been sent to your blog. This is great if you are away and have another staff member looking after the blog for you as it emails everyone (that you choose) so that they can act accordingly. A very nice addition.
#15 YARPP Plugin
Why You Need It:
YARPP or Yet Another Related Posts Plugin is just that; another related post plugin, but this one is the choice of a lot of professional bloggers due to the fact it just works; and it works very well at that. Basically it gives you a manageable list of posts and pages that are related to the post which is being viewed at that time. This is great not only for your users to get hold of similar pages but it also allows you to see what else you have done in the past you may have forgotten as well as being SEO friendly; bargain. The plugin also gives you a lot of control so you don’t have to worry about it pulling a list of 1,000 related posts (if you have that many). It’s a really nice feature to have on your blog.
#16 Backup Buddy Plugin
Why You Need It:
As you can guess from the name of this one; the Backup Buddy basically creates a back up of your complete site but it doesn’t just do this. Backup Buddy is capable of allowing you to back up your site and migrate it over to another server and domain, creating an exact replica of your site elsewhere. Now you may think what’s the point; but if you are testing then this is a great way to start, also if you wanted to create a new site with a new logo, domain etc. but you wanted to keep the layout and the design of everything else, then you could easily do so with the Backup Buddy, just delete the content you don’t want and hey presto, you have a new sister site for your original; this way is great branding too.
#17 GoTryThis Plugin
Why You Need It:
This plugin is a great utility for internet marketers. GoTryThis protects your affiliate and marketing links as well as protecting them by redirecting them across the domains that you own; it mirrors them which in turn keeps them away from others that may want to steal or hack the links. The organization within the plugin is great and you really can keep on top of all your links very easily. If you are struggling with your affiliate and marketing links then this plugin is for you.
#18 Broken Link Checker Plugin
Why You Need It:
This Plugin is a must have for every blogger; it basically checks every single post you create and analyses them for broken links and missing images. It may seem like an obvious addition to the list but a lot of people forget or do not even know there is such a tool available. Add it to your arsenal or regret it!
#19 Popup Domination
Why You Need It:
This one is essential if you want to build a list; and build it fast. In a nutshell, you create the design, add your content and Popup Domination does the rest: create beautiful and professional lightbox popup’s. The lightboxes are very sleek and are very stealthy which allows users to view them without getting annoyed like most of us do with the traditional popup. So if you want a professional edge to your opt-in’s then this tool is definitely for you!
#20 OIO Publisher Plugin
Why You Need It:
If you are looking of a way to create professional looking advertisements in order to monetize your site then this tool is for you. OIO Publisher allows you to create an effective advertising campaign without the messy looking blank spaces that all too often fill up website real estate when your down on your luck in the advertising game. There’s also an in-built affiliate program to help get your readers to become customers. On top of all this you can also place the ads anywhere on your site; anywhere at all, don’t like them in the sidebar? No problem. If you are still unsure go to their website and check out their demo.
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Definitely an excellent collection of plugins there.
Some are consistently showing up on the radar with bloggers ie. SEO friendly images plugin.
Incidentally you may have not heard but one of the kings of wordpress Joost de Valk has developed WordPress SEO Plugin available here:
http://yoast.com/wordpress/seo/
Trust me, it is the bomb! Integrated with an API to allow developers to create addons already it has News, Video, Local xml maps under development.
Azzam
Hey Azzam…
One step ahead of you, already linked to it when I mentioned All in one plugin..
Looking forward to it coming out of beta.
Michael
Great post Michael, there are several plugins in the list that I haven’t heard of before.
Thanks for the recommendations.
Regards,
Darren
I am with you Darren… quite a few I haven’t heard of before. Thanks Michael for the recommendation. I have a quick question… Which plugin you use to maintain all you affiliate links?
Monica
Hi Micheal,
Great list as always you are very helpful. I do have a question.
As a realatively new blogger I was wondering should I have all of these plugins on my blogs or would you suggest which ones you might consider must haves?
Thanks Joe
Thanks Michael, this is a great list. Its pretty condensed to, which I really appreciate it.
I must say tho, none of them on the surface look anything near as useful as Pop-up Domination. I’m in the process of putting it on all my sites. Its opened up doors I’ve never thought about before, and completely changed my businesses and marketing. For example, I didn’t focus on lightbox opt-ins because they usually look horrible, I also didn’t include free giveaways because it was hard to sell (without a picture) in the couple lines you get.
As soon as I got PUD- My head just spun with ideas.
So thank you, and again- thanks for the list of other good plugins!
Hello Sean,
Great to hear your enjoying Popup Domination
Thanks,
Michael
wow, this post was way better than I expected. There are so many plug in posts and most of them are pretty simple. Love the link tracking and shortening links. Checking out now. thanks!
Hey Michael!
Sweet list of plugins, my favorite one (besides popup domination of course) is the wp touch. I read a lot of blogs on my iphone and without that plugin it’s really hard to read blog posts!
Cheers!
Dirk
Here’s another great split testing plugin
Google Website Optimizer for wordpress…
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/google-website-optimizer-for-wordpress/
Good post Michael!
Your Popup Domination Plugin is working great for me. Thanks!
One of my newfound favorites is one by yoast – the comment redirect plugin, in which a first time commenter gets redirected to a custom thank you page that you write.
Really good stuff!
I’ve never heard of the split test plugin. Very cool. I use backup buddy, and its a very cool plugin.
Great plugins list. Good job Michael your posts are always help very helpful to me.Really appreciate it.
I never cease to be amazed at what is out there in plugin land!!! I know about some of these but there are two or three more I’m going to install thanks to your comments. Love your popup domination but need some instructions on how I can put this on my other (non WP) sites – any clues anyone?
Thanks Michael
I just recently installed Qoate Newsletter Signup plugin and it’s pretty great. It creates a little checkbox by your comment box that allows commenters to subscribe to your newsletter/list. It integrates seamlessly with AWeber and other services, too.
Yep, great roundup of some cracking plugins for WordPress.
Glad to see a few that are new to me, but look super useful.
Amazing plugin list. some here are really new to me – especially shrimptest. Tx Michael.
Alex
I am currently paying someone $50 bucks a blog, to set up WP blogs for me. But they are not installing all these cool plugins. I write all my own content. Am I getting ripped off?
Hello,
Short answer: YES.
Takes them 2 minutes to install it if you have Cpanel (which is 90% likely) – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0vnjYGlP3w
Michael
If they are hardening your wordpress install you’re not getting ripped off. If they are just doing a cpanel install then, yup, rip off.
I have to back up Anysia’s statement. Whilst a basic cPanel install and nothing else for $50 would be a rip off there are a lot of people, including myself, who do a lot more when installing a blog. There are many security edits that can be completed to strengthen the blog, premuim themes that can be added and then for someone that doesn’t know how to optimise a new blog or simply doesn’t have the time or want to $50 or even more is acceptable. Having said that I would have expected to see a least a couple of these plugins installed on a new blog or at least alternatives offering similar functionality.
Excellent list! I’m been a WordPress junkie for a while but didn’t know about alot of these.
Dude – Love your pop-up domination. It is great and blows all other pop-ups away!!! Keep up the good work.
rob
Hi Michael,
thank you a lot for this condensed list, very helpful
Kind regards
Rata
Great collection as usual. All in One SEO , Sitemap plguin ,YARRP and ofcourse Pop-up domination will be my most favorite one
Great list of WordPress plugins and thank you for taking the time to compile it. It is always takes a lot of time to do it right and you have provided an excellent resource for every WordPress user. Keep it up!
Thanks for sharing this list Michael. I agree that most of these plugins are essential. Some were new to me, though. I’ll definitely look into them.
Hi Michael
On your site’s Popup you have an ebook cover of the free report – what did you use to make the Ecover?
thanks
Mike
Fantastic plugins I have already implemented 3 of them on my site this blog is a very valuable resource especially in the downturn companies like mine are experiencing.
Hiya Michael,
Awesome stuff. These are cool plugins; I’m only using 6 of them currently, go figure :-).
I’ve tried WPTouch and it is actually cool, but you have to experiment with it as it does not work well for all types of blogs. it is awesome though that you can almost get an “app” with it :-).
One of my fave plug-ins is TinyMCE Advanced as it takes the programming out of blog posts :-). It makes drawing tables a breeze when making a blog post.
Thanks again Michael.
Totally newbie question I’m assuming, but what did you use to create the images where you take a screenshot, tilt it, crop it, then apply shadow? Probably something uber-simple and I love the effect.
Thanks!
Great list too. We use 6 of these and are about to relaunch our new site and likely to pickup PUD too.
Hi Michael,
It’s a lovely thing what WordPress gives you and with so many choices! I like the collection you have given us here. I use several of them but have not yet gone into monetizing my site, so this will come in handy.
I especially like the Shrimptest which lets you do split testing. Nice!
Appreciate the share!
Thu
Nice comprehensive list. I use a lot of these plugins on sites I run. It’s amazing how much functionality you can add to wordpress by just installing a plugin.
Its great to get free suggestions for all the newbies and intermediate online marketeersout there, keep it coming – anymore plugins we should know about?
You got a nice list Michael! But the best one is the popupdomination plugin =) I just bought that one GREAT PRODUCT!
What a great advice on plugins. Keep up with your good work.
Thanks
Michael
Great post on WordPress plugins, Michael. The main reason for WordPress success are plugins.
We can virtually add any functionality to a WordPress blog using pluigns. WordPress is just amazing. Keep the posts coming Michael.
Prajwal Shinde
Great list of plug-ins! I’m sure you held a couple good ones back for those who join you on Face-book. I’m pretty familiar with most of the plug-ins, however — WordPress having thousands — who can test them all.
I’m definitely going to check the ones you like that I don’t have. Thanks for sharing the knowledge.
Nice Post
Great list of plugins, thanks for that.
Marian
Awesome list of plugins Michael,
I know a couple of them and I am just hearing about some for the first time, I’ll be giving shrimp test a trial right away.
Thanks so much,
-Onibalusi
Hey Michael,
Great post on wp plugins. I have been using some of them on my site but you’ve opened my eyes to some other ones aswell. Will definitely test drive most of them… testing, testing and more testing
Thanks again
-Peter (MpL)
i Like this list. especially the popup domination plugin
Hey Mike,
Almost all the plugins youve listed are absolutely great and i have used except 3 of them. Thanks for the insights again!!
below is a similar post i had written few months ago suggesting more plugins: http://orangecopper.com/blog/if-wordpress-is-your-religion-this-is-your-plugin-bible
warm regards
Joshu
Thanks Michael downloaded two of those.
Carl
I’ve already installed some of those so i guess I’m on the right path but really interested in SEO plug-ins to drive more traffic. Thanks for this information mike.
Great list, Michael. Most of them I’ve never heard of. I could say I’m impressed.
Thanks again for the list!
Cool list and I love the Broken link checker the most, you must ad Ninja Affiliate and it seems a MUST for any internet marketers
More great plugins..I think they will be great marketing tools for people looking to break in their blogs…
Thanks
Micheal
“TrafficColeman “Signing Off”
Good list. But I feel we cant install all of them at once as it may slow down the performance of our site. So we need to be too choosy while selecting plugins. I would recommend All-in-one SEO pack and Google XML Sitemap generator. I use them in my blogs.
Anyways …thanks for taking efforts in compiling the list.
Great post – I found a number of gems here! One other I might recommend is Theme Test Drive which lets you play with new theme changes without affecting the live site.
Hi Michael,
I am so impressed by the recommendation…You displayed Sincere Honest Advise….
I have about 8 of those plugins and love them! I just bought your PopUpDomination Plugin and have been loving it! I also got Tweet Adder! Those have been helping our tremendously with my conversion! Thanks for the tips!
A really welcome set of plugins. I need a good SEO one and I’m waiting for Yoast’s plug-in to come out of Beta. Thanks for sharing.
Mike,
i use a few of these plugins. will have to check out the rest.
thanks for the list
Hi Michael,
Nice list.So many of the plugins were unknown till i read this post.I would say its a
worth trying…
Love the list of plug ins. Great job Michael.
Actually went out and installed two the you recommend. Makes my blogging life a little easier.
Is thier a plug in that you can add, to a blog post that will piont to a specific page in your website?
I want to have a little comment at the bottome of my blog post, just pionting to new products, products review ect.
Bryan C
All These are great plugins..Took Your advice an now I have the tools that i need to become successful. Thanx
Hi,
I love you Micheal and your blog is so so so so awesome. Just starting off with my blog. I am really having a tough time setting it up.
Thanks a lot Michael. Awesome learning for a newbie like me.
This is a great list, thanks. I have installed a few of the free ones but I don’t want to pay for any plugins, not yet anyway.
Impressive List! You obviously put considerable time into this! Thanks for sharing.
Hey Michael,
Very useful list. I went through it and discovered that I already owned a few of these powerful plugins (All In One SEO, Popup Domination, etc.) but there were a lot I just discovered and installed. I feel like the plugin that instantly makes your wordpress blog mobile is one of the most useful, because I’ve had readers notify me that it’s hard to read my content on mobile platforms. I plan on eventually developing an iPhone application for Melting Waves, but this will work out in the meantime. Thanks.
-Benjamin M. Jacques
Good meat and potatoes list of some of the better premium plugins.
Dwight Anthony
Financially Elite Blog dot Com
I tired to do the amazon thing but it was really confusing. I wanted to sell some books i have read and i want to encourage other to read but didnt see a way to link them to my page. Amazon wanted to keep it on there site.
Really useful post Michael. I thought I’d got most of the top plugins, but there are a few there that I’m going to add to the mix and a couple I’m going to exchange for the ones I’m currently using that do a similar job.
Look forward to more great posts!
get to know about mobiles more than anything you know about.
if u have THE DESIRE ,W E HAVE THE POWER TO COMPLETE IT
Thanks Michael, I really need some of those plugins. I have a question for you.. How can I set the popup dominator to redirect to the original page after my visitor signups?
Once again, great list. I use your popup domination gem myself.
All the plugins that you will ever need. Amazing list!
What a nice list, i am really impressed, many of these i am using and love them.
Fantastico! important plugs for affiliates. I use redirection plugin for my aff links though.
Thanks for sharing these plugins. There are a few that I haven’t yet will help!