I’ve used all of these plugins and can personally vouch for their effectiveness and ability to improve your WordPress site.

The following list was hard to narrow down. There are SO many good plugins…. But, I did my best. Let me know what you think.

All in One SEO Pack: This is one plugin that every WordPress site should have.  If you’re a beginner, you can use All in One SEO Pack out of the box. But, if you like to fine tune and tweak… then get after it. All in One SEO Pack allows you to add keywords, tags, optimize page titles, and much more.

Akismet: Akismet is the best anti-spam plugin available for WordPress. No one likes to waste time weeding through spam comments. Set up is easy with Akismet and then you don’t have to worry about spam comments any more!

Contact Form 7: Manage multiple contact forms with Contact Form 7. I’ve used many different forms for my sites, but I always come back to this one. It’s simple, reliable and flexible. Contact Form 7 supports Ajax-powered submitting, CAPTCHA, spam filtering and more.

WP Super Cache: This plugin generates static html files from your dynamic WordPress blog. This reduces the loading time of your blog. Visitors can browse your blog faster and navigate more easily. No one want to lose visitors because your site is slow!

WordPress Related Posts: WordPress Related Posts Plugin will generate a related posts via WordPress tags, and add the related posts to feed. This plugin generates related posts according to the tag and category. These posts are then shown at the end of the article. You keep your readers interested and entice them to explore more of your site by showing them related content.

Thank Me Later: So Cool! Thank Me Later automatically sends an e-mail those who have left a comment on your blog. You can use this plugin to say “thank you”, invite them to subscribe to your RSS feed, find you on Facebook or Twitter or email you personally. A great way to create personal relationships with your visitors and keep them coming back.

WPtouch iPhone Theme: Transform your WordPress site into an iPhone application-styled theme whenever your site is viewed from a mobile device. You don’t have to alter any code from your regular WordPress theme. A definite must these days!

Google XML Sitemaps: This plugin generates an XML sitemap which will help search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo and Ask.com index your blog. With a sitemap, search engine crawlers see your site structure more easily and are able to retrieve your information. Move on up the Google index with this one!

Google Analyticator: Add Google Analytics to your site with this simple plugin. Google Analyticator also offers several widgets to display analytics in the admin section of your WordPress site.

Sociable: Seen those cute little social networking icons at the bottom of pages or posts? Well, here you are. Sociable automatically add links to your favorite social bookmarking sites on your posts, pages and in your RSS feed. You can choose from 99 different social bookmarking sites! Give your readers an easy opportunity to share what you have to offer.

What is a Facebook Page?

Facebook has two types of pages: Facebook Pages and Groups.

How are Pages different from personal profiles?

Profiles represent individuals and must be held under an individual name, while Pages allow an organization, business, celebrity, or band to maintain a professional presence on Facebook.

In addition, Pages are managed by admins who have personal Facebook profiles. Once you have set up a Page within your profile, you may add other admins to help you manage this Page. People who choose to connect to your Page won’t be able to see that you are the Page admin or have any access to your personal account.

So, let’s get started…

Create a new facebook page.

Here’s an important decision… You will see a few category options here for the type of page you want to create. If you’re a strictly local business or organization, choose your type of business from the Local drop down menu. If you are a national business or organization or brand, then choose the category that best suits you from the Brand, Product or Organization category.  There is also a category for Artist, Band or Public Figure. Be sure to choose wisely, because you cannot change this later.

Once your page is created, then you get to move on to the fun stuff!

Adding Content to your Facebook Page

1. Upload pictures so you have a profile photo on your page. Choose either ‘upload from your computer’ or ‘take a photo with your webcam’. Most likely, you will choose the first option.
2. After you have uploaded the photo into your photos section, you will select a profile picture. Just hover your mouse over the giant question mark image that you see at the top left of your page and click the box that pops up that says “change image”. The image can be your logo, a photo of your location or a product image. Your logo might be a good choice if branding is your main focus.
3. Fill in your business summary in the box under your profile picture.
4. Fill in your basic information by clicking on the ‘edit page’ button under ‘basic information’. You will see a place to add your business location, phone number, and business hours, if applicable. then click on the title underneath, ‘Detailed info’ to add your website (if you don’t have one, you know who to call:)) parking and transit information. Again, if that doesn’t pertain to you, just leave it blank.
5. Click on the ‘Post Update’ button to go to your wall to post an update for your page. This is where you will do most of your work, adding information, links, comments, etc… for your fans to see and hopefully, pass along to others.
6. “Like” your own page… People will see that on your personal profile page.
7. Share your page with your friends. You can add a message to your shared page. This will also appear on your profile page. This is a good place to introduce your business, service or product and kindly ask people to support you by becoming a fan. If you think you will be offering certain types of benefits through your posts, you can mention that as well.
8. Finally, click on the ‘Suggest to Friends” button and select friends who will recieve an ‘invitation’ to be a fan.

Here’s a visual, in case you’re that type of person…

Voila! You’re done… Well, almost!

Now you just have to USE your page. Interact with your fans. Offer them something interesting, engage them in conversations. More on this in my next post!

Most Common & Familiar

Even if you don’t know it… you probably view several WordPress sites each time you’re on the internet. Here are just a few businesses/organizations who use WordPress: Fisher Price, National Geographic, Best Buy, Jane Fonda, NY Times, Wall Street Journal, Danielle Steel, etc… see for yourself.

Fully Customizable…

I’m a designer at heart. I love beautiful things and if I can’t create exactly what I want for my client, I’m not happy. WordPress allows me the freedom to customize the code and templates till my heart’s content. Thus, I create lovely sites for my clients… and they’re happy!

There are also a zillion plugins and theme variations out there for WordPress users, many more than any other CMS. Simply search the Wordpress Plugin page and you’ll probably find exactly what you’re looking for!

Amazingly Easy to Use

As I just said, I’m a designer at heart…. If I can’t figure something out with relative ease, then I know my clients won’t be able to either. Those problems were solved when I switched over to WordPress. After using Druple and Joomla for other sites, and spending hours on end training my client’s on the ins and outs of the administration side of the site… well, we were all about to pull our hair out!

Then WordPress waltzed into my life and it’s never been the same. WordPress calls it like it is… the admin navigation is straightforward and help is really only a click or two away. More on that later…

Really though, I’m so thankful that WordPress (developed by Matt Mullenweg) is both robust and user-friendly.  My clients can pick up WordPress after just an hour of two of training.

Blogging & SEO

As most know, WordPress was first created as a blogging tool. So… you should blog. No matter what your organization or industry, blogging can only help, not hurt you. I strongly encourage all my clients to have a blog page on their site. A regular commitment to blogging will naturally increase content. Content is king! Honestly, that’s the best SEO to have!

Community

Since using WordPress I have actually met some amazing people – both in person and online. The WordPress community is amazingly generous. Since WordPress is open-source (read: free!) users and developers seem more than willing to share their thoughts, tricks and tips with others. So, if you have a question, there are numerous help forums and experts out there to help.

More questions about WordPress? Feel free to contact me and I’d be happy to chat with you!

Here’s a freebie for all those piano lovers out there. I made this to frame and put up on the top of our piano. Just to make my kids smile as they practice.

The quote reads, “There’s nothing remarkable about it. All one has to do is hit the right keys at the right time and the instrument plays itself.” Johann Sebastian Bach.

I just love the quote and my kids think it’s pretty funny!

I hope you can enjoy it as well.

If you end up downloading the print, I’d love to hear back from you. Let me know where you put it or who you gave it to!

This is one of my favorite new sites: CardObserver.com

I visit when I’m bored. Need inspiration. Or just want to be happy.

These are top of the line, stunning business cards.

You’d frame ‘em if you had the privilege of getting one handed to you!

Enjoy!