I recently learned a lesson about spamming that prompted me to share with you my list of must-have WordPress plugins.
When I switched to a WordPress-based website, I installed the Contact Form plugin to make it easy for people to request information about my SEO copywriting and social media marketing/consulting services. Everything was going great, until I started getting spam emails through my Contact Form. After searching the Internet for help, I found that I needed a different plugin. That’s when I installed:
Contact Form 7 – This plugin works like a charm for filtering spam. When a word like “viagra” is included in the subject line, the message won’t go through, as you can see below:
Instead, the spammer sees a note that says, “Failed to send your message. Please try later or contact the administrator by another method.”
Ever since I installed this plugin, the “contact form” spam emails have stopped. Now, if I could only get rid of the rest of my spam email.
Akismet – At least I can keep blog comment spam at bay with the help of the ever-popular Akismet. One of the best WordPress plugins out there, Akismet also protects your blog from trackback spam.
Digg Digg – There are a variety of social sharing plugins available for your blog and website, but I like Digg Digg. Social networking icons are displayed in a vertical or horizontal floating bar for easy sharing. You can specify which social networking sites to use, and in what order. The plugin displays how many times your content has been shared.
Yoast SEO for WordPress – A must for search engine optimization, this plugin incorporates everything from a snippet preview and page analysis functionality that helps you optimize your page’s content, image titles, meta descriptions and more to XML sitemaps, and loads of optimization options in between.
Google Analytics for WordPress – This plugin allows you to track your blog easily and with lots of metadata. It’s a very simple installation through integration with Google Analytics API. Just authenticate, select the site you want to track and you’re done.
Do you have a favorite WordPress plugin? Please share it in the comments below!
