I’ve been using WordPress for about five or six years. I started out with Blogger, hated it moved onto Typepad after one day of using it.
I liked Typepad much better than Blogger so much that I used their paid service. I stayed with them for about six months. I left when I discovered that I had WordPress tucked away as a simple install in my hosting provider package. After reading up on WordPress I decided to give it a try, five years later I’m still using it. It’s definitely my favorite blogging platform.
There are thousands of WordPress themes you can choose from; your limitations are only hindered by your imagination. I like simple WordPress themes. Occasionally I’ll tweak them to my liking (although I haven’t really done too much with this one) and move one.
However even with the numerous themes available, that’s not where WordPress shines (at least not for myself.) I’ve always been a fan of the Word Press addons that focused on community. Whether large or small it’s nice when folks stop by and comment at your virtual home.
I’m Celebrating Life is my newest personal website. I really haven’t had a chance to virtually visit too much. However, when I do stop by I tend to leave a comment, especially if they’ve taken the time to comment on my website. For myself, it just seems the polite thing to do. I never have to think about what to say on their blogs since their posts make me want to leave some type of comment. 🙂 As my workload decreases, I’ll be able to visit more people. I do appreciate those who stop by my virtual home and comment, thanks.
Five Community friendly WordPress Plug-ins
- CommentLuv by Andy Bailey
- Edit Comments XT by Michael Woehrer
- Subscribe to Comments by Mark Jaquith
- Top Commentators Widget by Lorna Timbah
- Quick Cache by PriMo Themes.com/Websharks Inc.,
I remember when Andy created this plugin a few years ago. I instantly added it to one of my websites. The feedback was great, and I eventually added it to others. CommentLuv is a great way to reward those who have their own blogs, since it will link to one of their posts.
I know I’m not the only one that has made typos when responding to a post. Unfortunately, many bloggers don’t have this addon, or a platform that lets them do this. If you host WordPress on your own hosting server, you can have this enabled.
I really enjoy this, at times I want to follow a conversation. Instead of having to continually go and check to see if the author has responded I’m alerted by email when the person has responded.
This addon gives a permanent link to your top commentators; it’s a nice way to say thanks for those who stop by to comment. I imagine we all love seeing people commenting on our site, right? This is a nice way to reward your guests. I tend to comment a lot, it’s my way of letting one of my blog buddies know I’ve stopped by. Of course, I make sure I have something to say.
My readers/commentators don’t see this WordPress Plugin since it works behind the scenes, however I enjoy it immensely since it improves the performance and speed of my websites. Which means faster loading time for my readers.
I hope you like the my short list of community friendly WordPress Plug-Ins. Eventually I’ll create a page featuring all the WordPress Plug-ins that I use.
Question: What are some of your favorite plug-ins? If you don’t have a blog or plug-ins what are some that you’ve see in other blogs, that you really enjoy?
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Moondancer, WordPress
It’s been a while since I’ve played around with WordPress. The main thing I enjoyed about using WordPress with my own hosting provider was that I had so many more themes to choose. I always enjoyed tweaking my chosen WP theme to fit my personal tastes.