If the WordPress blogs you create for clients don’t sizzle like bacon, maybe they’re missing something. For that matter, maybe you’re missing something, too, because you are working harder than you have to when planning blog content. Today, people are wrapping bacon around everything from cocktails to scary little desserts. How about you give WordPress some bacon, too, with a plugin or two that sizzles?
Trimming the Fat
WP-Optimize is the blog site garbage collector. Its job is to free your WordPress database of all the junk it collects each day; junk that does the same thing to your blog that fatty bacon does to your heart:
- Spam comments
- Extra post revisions
- Mystery junk that just appears out of nowhere (where does that stuff come from anyway?)
WP-Optimize cleans it all up to improve blog performance.
Baby Don’t Go
Just when the readers think they are done with the blog, YARPP comes along and whispers: wait, don’t go. Yet Another Related Posts Plugin shows other posts to entice your reader, reducing the bounce rate and increasing the client’s chance of conversion.
Is the Social Bar Following You?
As a matter of fact, it is. The Floating Social Bar stalks the reader as he or she scrolls down the page, but in a nice, unobtrusive fashion. It stays at the top of the page to encourage the guest to share that little sizzling tidbit with friends and colleagues via social media.
The Floating Social Bar does its job without slowing down the overall process, too. This plugin stays lightweight by showing only a replica image of the bar. The means it is not constantly reloading the page to get an accurate count.
Cache This Why Don’t Ya
W3 Total Cache is another optimizing plugin. Its mission is to boost the speed and improve page load times using caching. W3 Total Cache promises to enhance the overall site performance by 10x. That is a lot of bacon.
There is a second choice for caching. WP Super Cache generates static HTML files to speed up dynamic WordPress pages. Even if you develop dynamic elements, most of the page will still be static. This plugin caches the static components to allow the server to work more efficiently.
Follow the Money
If you are not keeping count, then you really are missing out on some powerful data. WP-Google Analytics Dashboard allows you to track your visitors to see where you are getting the most traffic from and what they find interesting. You can use that information to leverage productive channels and create blogs that engage your audience.
Last but not Least…
WP-Touch takes your existing blog and makes it mobile-friendly, so it passes that ever important Google test. It automatically generates a mobile theme for the page.
It’s not bacon—few things in life are—but it is kosher, so no excuses. Mix and match WordPress plugins to find a combination that works for you, your clients and your audience.
Darla F is open-minded about writing topics, but her goal is to pick up work she finds compelling. She is interested in art, art history, news, health, fitness and programming.
