Ok, now that I’ve given you the lowdown on plugin selection and things you need to be mindful of; I do have a list of 15 plugins that I personally use and I’ll share with you their function, so you can decide if they would also be useful on your blog. If you don’t want or need the function/feature any of these plugins provides – do not install them. Simple as that.

1. Akismet: this is one part of my two part spam-fighting system on my blog to combat comment spam. This plugin actually comes already installed on every WordPress blog, you just need to activate it with an API key you get from WordPress.com.
2. All in One SEO Pack: awesome plugin that allows you to set unique blog post and page titles (i.e. keyword phrase specific titles that should be unique to every post and/or page you write) and set meta descriptions and add meta keywords as well.
3. Articles: this plugin allows me to select ‘featured’ posts that will then display on a separate page on my blog for quick and easy reference. Not the same as a sitemap, as only those posts you select will be visible, so a good way to keep your most popular posts all in one easy to find location.
4. Audio Player: a nice plugin that makes it very quick and easy to add an mp3 audio to a post or page. Great for adding interviews or audio sound bites to your page. I prefer this plugin over the built-in audio player in WordPress.
5. Comment Redirect: this plugin will redirect all first time commenters on your blog to a page or post of your choosing. I have a page created where I thank them, as first time commenters, for visiting my blog – you could even offer them a free downloadable report on this page, invite them to subscribe to your mailing list (include an opt-in form on this page!) or whatever you want. Make them feel special and appreciated!
6. Dagon Design Contact Form: by far the best and easiest to use and setup contact form I’ve found. It includes a captcha to control contact form spam by bots.
7. Dagon Design Sitemap: this is a human-friendly sitemap, made to make it easier for your blog visitors to find all of your posts and pages in one spot. Has a place to enter the location of your XML sitemap (see below)
8. Google XML Sitemap: this is a sitemap for search engines. Yes, you need both a human-friendly sitemap and this XML sitemap, so works well with the Dagon Design Sitemap listed above.
9. Sexy Bookmarks: this is a social bookmarking plugin that will add social bookmarking icons below every post and/or page on your site so your blog visitors can easily Stumble, Digg, Tweet, etc…. your site content. This is great for traffic generation!
10. Similar Posts: adds a list of similar or related posts at the end of your blog posts.
11. Subscribe to Comments: allows site visitors to receive notice of any new comments on a specific blog post.
12. Thank Me Later: will send a fully customizable follow up ‘thank you’ email to anyone who has previously commented on your blog, but has not been back. Great for reminding folks about your blog and getting return visitors.
13. Twitter Tools: allows you to integrate your blog and Twitter account. This is the tool I use to automatically send a tweet out when I publish a new post on my blog. You can also add your latest Twitter activity in your blog sidebar.
14. WP Database Backup: this an extremely handy plugin that everyone really needs to use. Not only will this plugin backup your database, you can schedule regular database backups with this plugin and have those backups emailed to you. I highly recommend that you install this plugin and schedule at least daily backups of your blog. Do not assume your web host is doing regular daily backups of your site.
15. WP Super Cache: if you have a blog that gets a LOT of traffic, or you could potentially get a surge of traffic (like through Digg, Stumbleupon or a trending topic), you need this plugin. It will save you from crashing your bandwidth during high traffic surges.

There you have it, my top 15 recommended plugins and why and how to use them. If you do not yet have your blog online, and you need step-by-step help

There are numerous factors to consider when choosing the right system for creating your website. Some website building tools are geared toward flexibility and functionality while others are created to be more user-friendly.

Better user-friendliness usually means sacrificing your website’s flexibility and functionality. Under these circumstances you may feel forced to make a compromise between the two.

There doesn’t always have to be a compromise between user-friendliness and functionality.

Some methods of building a website strive to bridge the gap between these two extremes. One of these powerful and user-friendly website building tools is WordPress.

Originally created for blogging, WordPress has evolved into a full-blown website building and management system capable of many other applications besides blogging. WordPress is an excellent choice for E-commerce websites, personal blogs, online communities and many other types of websites.

What makes WordPress such a good choice for building your website is that it’s easy to use and has wide selection of theme choices. WordPress is also highly customizable with a vast multitude of WordPress plug-ins constantly being updated and developed.

Easy to Use

WordPress’ administrative backend (aka the dashboard) couldn’t get any easier. Every element of your website’s content can be seen and accessed from the WordPress dashboard giving you total control of your WordPress website.

The WordPress dashboard is intuitive, the elements in the administrative panel are easy to identify, and the dashboard can be easily customized with dashboard widgets. Such a simple interface makes managing a WordPress website a complete no-brainer.

A World of Theme Choices

In a WordPress website, your overall layout and design are determined by your theme. WordPress themes come in many styles and designs. Some WordPress themes are free while others are offered at various prices.

WordPress themes range from simple layouts of mainly text to elaborate designs loaded with graphics.

There are hundreds of theme makers making thousands of themes for the WordPress Community and that number keeps on growing every day. Whatever you decide, you can rest assure there’s a WordPress theme out there to fit your needs.

Highly Customizable

Each WordPress theme has its own unique features enabling different degrees of functionality within your WordPress website’s layout. These features will vary based on which theme you have selected for your WordPress installation.

Unique features in WordPress themes aren’t the only WordPress features that aid in the customization of your WordPress website.

WordPress also has extra components called plug-ins which enable you to add just about every type of functionality imaginable. In addition to adding extra capabilities, WordPress plug-ins allow your WordPress website to integrate with a host of both online and offline tools and services.

Whether you’re looking to display a Google Map, integrate with Twitter or just improve your website’s performance, chances are you can find a WordPress plug-in to fit your WordPress website’s needs.

There are at least as many WordPress plug-in designers as there are theme designers. In fact, some of the designers who produce WordPress themes also produce WordPress plug-ins.

This seemingly inexhaustible supply of plug-ins gives you the power to turn your WordPress Installation into the website of your dreams.

With all of the things that are possible with WordPress, it’s easy to see why WordPress would make such a great choice for your website’s needs. Features such as its simple administrative interface in addition to the sheer volume of plug-ins and themes give WordPress an astronomical degree of flexibility without sacrificing user-friendliness.

Rather than simply compromising between functionality and user-friendliness, WordPress spans the entire spectrum to include as many elements of both as possible.

These are just a few of the things that make WordPress such a good choice for any website.

Michael W Gibson is a webmaster with a Bachelor of Science in Wildlife Management from Texas A&M University – Kingsville and a Master of Business Administration from Stephen F. Austin State University.

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Have you ever realize that some social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Plurk and many more others are becoming popular among the internet users nowadays? If you didn’t live under the rock, I’m very sure that you already familiar with the Facebook and Twitter. The main difference between Facebook and Twitter is, if the relations of friendship between theme. If on Facebook is a two-way relationship or we can say a mutual relationships which give and receive information then Twitter is one way relationships which we can following person for information on the status of her but the people that we follow with should not be following us and vice versa.

The concept of the Twitter is the ability to publish an update status of 140 characters and this way, make the Twitter is a very light, simple, focused and fast solution to update our status. With the other great features like facility to shortening the URL link for the outside reference information make Twitter as a data source for search engines since it will contextual and real time. So, are you interested in making a Twitter account? Well, if yes then you have to think about your reason why you interested to join at Twitter.

If your purpose when joining Twitter is to make friends then you should to forget about your idea to join at Twitter, because your will waste your account. But if your aim is for getting update information or trends and information in sharing global or local and not limited to the circle of your friends then Twitter could be the best option for you to choose. Great example for this case is the PornoTwitter that you can access it at Twitter site. At this page, you can follow them to have an update information and news related to entertainment and funny topics. I think it’s a great idea since we can enjoy some entertaining updates directly on our iPhone or android phone.

Do you ever feel less satisfied with the services of your current auto insurance company? Inadequate auto insurance protection coverage or you have trouble when you make your car insurance claim? Well, if you experience any of the above mentioned, then it would be great if you are considering to switching you car insurance protection to the other car insurance company. Do not ever think that all insurance companies are bad and you no longer wish to use the services of car insurance companies anymore. As we know that sometimes we also think that we will be able to save a lot of money if we no longer use the services of car insurance companies.

We have to realize that protecting our cars with car insurance is really important since car insurance is not only helps us to pay the repairs cost of our car when facing any event of an accident, but car insurance can also protect us from claims of others person who are involved with car accident with us. For some people, if they are not satisfied with the services of their current car insurance and want to switch to another auto insurance company, then they will think a thousand times because finding a good and professional auto insurance company is not easy because right now there are a lot of insurance companies car who claim they are the best but after we deal with them then we will discovered the ugliness of their services.

Therefore that’s why, doing careful comparisons between any offers and quotes from different car insurance companies is very important steps to find the right insurance company to deal with. In addition, we also need to read various car insurance companies reviews that can be found on the internet. For this needs, we can try to take our time to visit to the CarInsuranceRates.com website. At this website we can find various important information related to the auto insurance or car insurance such as different type of car insurances, reviews of various cars insurance companies, claims help, assistance in the purchase of auto insurance, and many more. So, have you got the point now? Just shares your question and ideas at the comment form, we hope you can find useful information from this post.

The online world has the potential to offer unrivalled riches in terms of information availability whilst also offering the potential for disaster. The fact is that sensitive and an individuals data is a sensitive issues and one that needs to be protected to guarantee total compliance with specific regulations. Many firms now keep information relating to clients regardless if related to their respective company or employer or specifically their consumer data. Nevertheless the dilemma is exactly how that data is safeguarded to ensure no data loss. This is particularly vital when considering functions such as file transfer, which is the key reason why countless companies are using software methods that automate the procedure and therefore provide a considerably more protected process that is effective.

The reality whenever it relates to data security is that records should solely be available to the appropriate people whom need accessibility, that is required for the individual to carry out their job. This concept is known as data governance. In addition many firms use sensitive details within many aspects of their company, like subsidiaries and offices, which entails file transmission of records. This is without a doubt the one dilemma that provides the biggest hazard in reality as the internet and its method of operation introduces potential issues when transmitting data. Currently there are several means of providing file transfer and in regards to protection, the challenge relates to the aspect that a lot of establishments utilise a variety of automated as well as human procedures which inherently within themselves creates potential issues.

When it relates to ensuring the safeguard of information, one of the fundamental things to consider must be the relevant software used for information transmission. Presently there are multiple solutions offered nevertheless the most efficient kind of protected data transmission uses automation that is software generated, which then precludes any potential issues caused by manual intervention. In addition the infrastructure of the company systems needs to also be considered, and indeed will have a significant impact on the selection of software application solution.

Data loss prevention is a vital factor for any sort of business organisation, as the ramifications of information loss for all concerned are significant. The web is a consistently progressing medium and so are the possible hazards, which is precisely why it is crucial for any business that possesses client data to ensure that their relevant standard protocols are completely powerful to prevent information loss. No matter what form this particular protected method takes should be reliable, efficient and flexible enough in order to address the ever evolving requirements of the internet and the establishment itself to implement a completely conversant resolution which delivers the relevant level of protection required.

Further information can be found at www.handd.co.uk