Firstly for the more eagle eyed of you, you will notice I list 12 plugins not 11 as per the title suggests, however the Google XML Sitemaps plugin is NOT required if you use the Yoast SEO plugin (as this generates sitemaps for you)…. So before you start commenting….

As a WordPress Designer…..

I tend to use WordPress for the creation of 80% of my websites that I create on behalf of a customers requirements, for a number of reasons of personal choice, mainly that if the client needs the website to do something rather then just be a brochure, the chances are there is already a plugin that does the job, at a cheap or free cost to myself, thus I can pass the saving on to my customer.

One thing I do find is that no matter how many “this site has to do this…” requests I get from customers, I always seem to be ‘loading up’ the plugins listed below, the reason for some are quite obvious, but maybe some arent, so from a purely PERSONAL level here are :-

My Top Used WordPress Plugins

In no particular order (and up to date at time of writing 19th August 2011)

Broken Link Checker

How many times do I create Blogs (or even static pages) and the link you are linking to suddenly vanishes from the internet (even links server downtime), isnt it great to be notified that a link on your site is no longer working ? But then is it not even better to be able to change the link, delete the link (and/or text) or even null the link….

Plugin Directory Link HERE - Complete zip of all plugins at base of post.

Video Tutor

Do you just groan when the customer still contacts you asking “how do I make a story?” , well this is why Video Tutor plugin is probably the best time saver ever ! Simply tell your customer to click on HELP as WP Video Tutor puts video tutorials in the help section of the WordPress Admin Panel. This enables Administrators to see a video tutorial about the page they are on in their Admin Panel by clicking on the help tab.

Plugin Directory Link HERE - Complete zip of all plugins at base of post.

WordPress SEO (Yoast)

Without a doubt my MOST used plugin, re-create SEO Title, description and even meta keywords (are they even used anymore??) ,  go DEEP into your sites Search Engine Optimisation criteria and see how to push your website higher in the rankings, and full AUTOMATIC XML creation.

I cant begin to tell you what a fool you are for NOT having this install (and configured) within your WordPress installations (so much so, that I have just wrote on my to-do list to go check my early WP installs!!).

Plugin Directory Link HERE - Complete zip of all plugins at base of post.

Google Sitemap Generator

“Hang on a minute…” – I hear you say, didnt you just say that ‘WordPress Seo (Yoast)’ created XML sitemaps ? Well yes, I did, but prior to using Yoast’s SEO I was using this one, and as  the title is “most used” I have to include it.

The name speaks for itself, generates a XML Sitemap for google to crawl, updates when you do and pings back Google.

Plugin Directory Link HERE - Complete zip of all plugins at base of post.

Disable Admin Bar

As most of you know , the new WordPress installation include a rather Useful admin bar at the top of every page for those logged in as administrators, HOWEVER, this is not good if you are creating more of a static site and wish to see it from the ‘visitors’ point of view, so we can either ammend the WordPress code (only for it to re-appear after updating) OR we can just install this easy plugin , simply install and activate and the admin bar vanishes!

Plugin Directory Link HERE - Complete zip of all plugins at base of post.

Sexy Bookmarks

This great little plugin seems to be the one that updates the most (with all new social networks ever increasing there is more to add!).  As you can see from the bottom of any of my posts on this website, you have the option to click to share to any of your social networking sites.

I personally feel this is a must have plugin for any BLOG website , we are just waiting for Google to change the +1 code and we no doubt will have the perfect sharing resource for us WordPress designers!

Plugin Directory Link HERE - Complete zip of all plugins at base of post.

Contact Form 7

 Why bother coding a complete contact solution for your clients ?

Contact form 7 will do the lot and more!

I use contact form for the clients basic ‘contact us’ options, I have the ability to add more fields if required and a captcha option (if the site suffers from spamming) , I also have the ability to add file upload and to be honest, I cant see why I would ever hand code another contact form again within WordPress.

Plugin Directory Link HERE - Complete zip of all plugins at base of post.

Contact Form 7 Widget

Whilst not strictly a stand alone plugin , this plugin is used with the above ‘Contact Form 7′ and allows you to place contact form options within your widgets (sidebars , footers and so on) , although it does require some serious css coding skills to get the contact form to blend with your existing artistic designs!

Plugin Directory Link HERE - Complete zip of all plugins at base of post.

Customer Reviews

“I truly enjoyed myself at this…” Everyone loves a good review ! And if you dont like the bad ones then simply dont approve them !

This plugin is a genius plugin and I absolutely love it, you can see it in action on my website (Caravan In Brean) and used on this Mobile Valet Website, I am a MASSIVE believer in customer feedback (as you can tell from my requests at the end of the posts!!). Great anti-spam measures as well as admin approve and edit, a plugin that beats most premium alternatives!

Plugin Directory Link HERE - Complete zip of all plugins at base of post.

Guides

WP Guides ( WP Blog Tutorials ) was developed to provide a very simple means for adding instructional and or document support to the admin panel of WordPress, it gives the end user, developer, template designer or any administrator the ability to distribute nearly any type of document in the admin panel of a site.

This is great, as bigger corporate blog sites, may have multiple authors, editors and other users, and they can all be kept ‘in the loop’ with critical company documentation. I use this for mainly helping users navigate WordPress and their blogging experience.

Plugin Directory Link HERE - Complete zip of all plugins at base of post.

Disable WordPress Updates

“Oh look another version of WordPress has been release… what does that mean? lets ring our webmaster….”

How many times does the customer panic when they see that WordPress has been updated, then get instantly on the phone to demand to know why their website is “out of date”.  Lets knock the hassle on the head NOW with this great plugin!

This plugin disables the theme, plugin and core update checking, the related cronjobs and notification system.

REMEMBER – If you fail to keep WordPress up to date, especially if used as a blogging platform , you can be a target or abused by one of the many vulnerabilities, if you keep your WordPress and plugins up to date, you SHOULD be safe.

Plugin Directory Link HERE - Complete zip of all plugins at base of post.

Technical Support

Now I saved this to last, because if truth be told, I have used this once (this morning) , but I already know I am going to be using this one LOADS more…

This is very simple to enhance your clients’ websites with a bug reporting tool where they could pick a topic, write a message and send it over ,  this plugin generates a Technical Support dashboard widget, where your clients can submit tickets that will be emailed directly to you. How cool is that ??

Plugin Directory Link HERE - Complete zip of all plugins at base of post.

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