Blogging Tools & Essentials: Wordpress Plugins That Make Blogging Life Easier

BLOGGING TOOLS & ESSENTIALS: WordPress Plugins That Make Blogging Life Easier

We’re back for another edition of Molly’s Blogging Tools & Essentials.

I apologize to those of you who read this here blog who aren’t bloggers as this post won’t be as fun for y’all. But don’t worry, I’ll be back tomorrow with your regularly scheduled whatnot.

I also have to apologize to those of you who read this here blog who aren’t on a self-hosted WordPress blog… because this won’t be very helpful for you, either.

BUT, if you are on a self-hosted WordPress.org blog OR you are considering moving to a self-hosted WordPress blog, then this post WILL (hopefully) be very helpful! 🙂

So, if you’re using a self-hosted WordPress.org blog, you know by now about plugins. There are THOUSANDS of plugins out there – I’m still trying to figure out which ones are worth a lick and which ones aren’t.

I have over 30 plugins (too much? probably…) installed on the back end of this here blog. But, there are three that are my absolute MUST HAVES for making my blogging life just a little quicker and easier.

1. Faster Image Insert

Faster Image Insert Plugin

This plugin is the JAM if you like to have a lot of images in your blog posts. So, fashion bloggers, photographers, art bloggers, food bloggers, DIY bloggers…. really any blogger that likes to have multiple photos in their blog posts can benefit from this plugin.

Basically, it’s a plugin that allows you to batch upload the images you want in your post, you can batch rename them, and then BATCH INSERT THEM!! No more inserting images one by one!!

I save SERIOUSLY so much time doing my blog posts by using this plugin. It’s SUPER easy to use.

2. Comment LuvComment Luv Plugin

This plugin isn’t really about making MY life easier, but really more the lives of my readers / commenters / fellow blogger’s lives easier.

Comment Luv is basically a plugin that allows someone who is commenting on the blog to include a link to their blog or a previous post along with the comment. When the commenter types in their blog URL in the field, the plugin pulls from the blog’s RSS feed the most recent posts. The commenter can then choose a post they want to appear.

This is GREAT for both YOUR SEO (search engine optimization) and the SEO of your commenter. It also is like a fellow back scratch and a little boost for your commenter’s blog. It shows up as “X recently posted…” etc. etc.

Seriously! It’s a GREAT plugin and commenters who have blogs LOVE it! So, show some love to those faithful commenters by using this plugin.

 3. Comment Reply NotificationComment Reply Notification

So, for the first three or four years I was blogging, I would reply to my reader’s and commenter’s comments on the backend of my blog and I realized that unless the commenter / reader came back to my blog to check to see if I replied, they would never ACTUALLY see the reply.

I would take the time to reply to their comment via email AND on the blog so that people could see my reply… and that was taking up SO MUCH TIME.

Enter comment reply notification. This plugin allows you (or anyone) to reply to someone’s comment and they get notified in their email with your reply! That way, they can see that you actually replied to their comment.

SUPER helpful! Why? Well, not only does their comment get feedback, but it also encourages more discussion! More discussion = more comments = more feedback = more views = more readers, etc. etc. etc.

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So, those are just a few of the plugins that I absolutely LURVE. Any other WordPress.org bloggers out there? What plugins do you love? I’d love to know your favorites!

22 Comments

  1. you have written well. it was a very helpful post for me because I’m a new blogger. and I will try to follow the terms that you have discussed in your blog. thank you!

    Reply
  4. Pingback: Let's Talk SEO | "So You Wanna Start a Blog?" Series | Still Being Molly

  5. I have a few different ones that I use one specifically is called SiteOrigins it uses widgets to build your pages if you need something special. Like for one section I can insert a google maps with a pin to show exactly where my recent zoo adventure took place. (I may change it if I find something better for google maps) but until then it’s really great. Plus I can switch back and forth between the editor. Also for my SEO I use 2 different ones Squirrely and Yoast. 🙂 Squirrely helps with Keywords and yoast helps me with my meta.

    Reply
  6. Pingback: Blogging Tools & Essentials: WordPress Plugins That Make Blogging Life Easier | NC Blogger Network

  7. Oh my gosh. I am soo glad you posted this. Can you post a few more? Or send me the whole list of 30? When I first switched to a self-hosted wordpress site, I was practically stalking a bunch of blogs to try and figure out the plugins they used to implement.

    Reply

  9. Amazing post! So helpful. I switched to wordpress self hosted in March, and finding useful plugins can be a daunting task. Thanks for this! Nice to meet another member of SBS. xoxo

    Reply
  10. Pingback: Wordpress Plugins That Make Blogging Life Easier | Southern Blog Society

  17. Thanks for sharing Molly! I just added commentluv but can’t get it to work automatically… Hoping to fix that soon, but I agree it’s a good one to have! I need the photo one too!

    Reply

  20. I’ve been thinking if I should switch over to WP from Blogger and still not sure.. I’m kind of getting a hang of this just now… SO much to learn!
    Great job with pointers

    Inspiration Monday Link Up @ Happy Medley

    Reply

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