BlogPress 101

After deciding on the theme you have selected, one of the most important things that you have to decide on is what plugins you are going to need on your blog or website.  Remembering that not all plugins will work with the version of WordPress you are using, check them out first and be sure that it does everything that you want it to do.  If not, move on and find another one that will work for you. http://wordpress.org, to me, is the best place to look for what you want. My rule of thumb is if you don’t really need it don’t install it.

Here is what I would call the startup plugins that will help you do your job:

1. Contact Form 7
   This plugin can manage multiple contact forms, plus you can customize the form and the mail contents flexibly with simple markup. The form supports Ajax-powered submitting, CAPTCHA, Akismet spam filtering and so on.

2. Google Analyticator
   This plugin adds the necessary JavaScript code to enable Google Analytics logging on any WordPress blog. This eliminates the need to edit your template code to begin logging. Google Analyticator also includes several widgets for displaying Analytics data in the admin and on your blog.

3. WordPress.com Stats
   There are hundreds of plugins and services which can provide statistics about your visitors. However even though something like Google Analytics provides an incredible depth of information, it can be overwhelming and doesn’t really highlight what’s most interesting to me as a writer. That’s why Automattic created its own stats system, to focus on just the most popular metrics a blogger wants to track and provide them in a clear and concise interface.

4. Jetpack by WordPress.com
   This is a WordPress plugin that supercharges your self-hosted WordPress site with the awesome cloud power of WordPress.com.

5. Dean’s FCKEditor For WordPress
   This plugin Replaces the default WordPress editor and has lots of icons to help you write a post.

To wrap this up just remember these are plugins, with the exception of Contact Form 7, that run in the admin area of your WordPress blog.  There are a lot of plugins that can make your blog display the information like you want it and get the most bang for your buck.  Just DON"T go overboard with them.