Top 5 WordPress Plugins For Your Blog

One of the most appealing things about using WordPress is the endless variety of plugins you can add to your website. You can easily integrate all of your social profiles into one place and add special functions to your blog. Here are 5 of my favorite plugins for any blog:

Related Posts

If your theme doesn’t have this option build in it is a great idea to add a plugin. This will allow you to show other posts from the same category or sharing the same tag at the end of a post. By doing this you are creating a longer life for your posts and keeping visitors on your website longer. Click here to browse different related post plugins.

Editorial Calendar

This is a simple plugin that adds an interactive calendar under you “Posts” menu. You can then see your month in a calendar format and easily create new posts from here. You can also drag and rearrange current and schedule posts. I enjoy this method most because i can see which days need a post scheduled and I can also more easily see how the posts relate to each other. View plugin page here.

Instagram & Pose

As a fashion blogger most of us are always snapping photos and sharing them with our followers and readers. Some really fun places to post these photos are Instagram and Pose. WordPress has plugins for each of these platforms which allows you to easily add your photo streams to the sidebar of your blog. View Instagram widget or view Pose widget.

Tubepress

Whether you upload a lot of your own videos to YouTube or have a curated channel full of favorites this plugin is for you. You can embed a beautiful video gallery into a page on your blog or add a “latest videos” widget to display videos in your side bar. Both displays never direct visitors away from your blog which will increase the time visitors spend on your blog and enjoying your videos.

Disqus

One of my favorite things about having blogs is the great feedback I get from all of the great people that visit my blog. This plugin allows your visitors to post using a variety of profiles, including Facebook and Twitter. I know I personally comment on blogs more often when it is easy to do and requires minimal forms to fill out. I highly recommend this plugin to any blogger, view the Disqus plugin here.

What are some of your own favorite plugins?

Kaitlyn founded Blog Trends in October of 2011 and has been blogging for over 10 years. Her personal blog, Mohawks and Lilacs, highlights her love of food, literature, health, and most recently becoming a mother. Kaitlyn is also a freelance photographer at Kaitlyn Marie Photography and a professional social media consultant at Pierce Social.