Why do something that someone else has already done, and especially if it is actually easier to use their program than it is to do it myself?

The best example of this is WordPress Plugins. For the longest time I would code everything myself. As an example I did my own SEO programming and it worked well, but, I discovered as I moved from blog to blog I had to do a lot of extra work that I would not have to do if I had used a WordPress Plugin. So I started looking to replace all my custom programming with WordPress plugins, and I can not tell you how much easier it is to manage my blogs now.

I also found that in some cases the plugins were better than what I had done myself, ouch. But hey, that is the idea, use the software that gets the job done and is the easiest to maintain. I will say that in some cases I think a particular WordPress plugin can be improved, in that case I try to do one of two things, improve it and send it to the originator, or comment on the originating blog and give them my idea.

Here is a list of my current favorite WordPress plugins I am using on the majority of my blogs.

Akismet

All in One SEO Pack

Custom Query String Reloaded

CyberExcerpt

Get Recent Comments

Google Analytics

Google XML Sitemaps

Recommended Tags

Show Top Commentators

WP-ContactForm

Using WordPress Plugins can certainly help you manage your blog better without all the additional work. Just make sure to test each plugin carefully before rolling out in full production. I have found some plugins may cause problems with other plugins and that even the order in which you install them can sometimes cause issues. The best thing to do is setup a sub domain with WordPress that is not indexed in the search engines and use it as a test site.

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I have 2 clear examples of writing a post that was influenced by my own circumstances and imagination that were rewarded in the SERPS.

• The first was written 2 months ago and included a video. I was just trying to relay my thought on how we each respond to making mistakes and that we need to be open minded while taking responsibility for our own actions. This post is ranked # 2 on Google for open minded vlogging and # 14 for the term open minded blogging. The title was “Making mistakes and being open minded“. And yes I gave some thought to the SEO in the post, but, I was still surprised to see people coming to my site for the above mentioned terms.



• The second post was ” WordPress XML Parsing Error” and landed pretty good for several terms including, WordPress error, WordPress XML Error, and WordPress Parsing error. The post was basically a log of troubleshooting an error I was having with WordPress. Yes I did a little SEO on the post, but the results once again were above my expectations.

As a side note, the only reason I knew of these results is because I evaluate my analytics to get a better understanding of how people find and use my sites. This work is probably one of the keys to my success, as I know it is not my pure writing skills.

The moral of the story…..

Be natural, be organic.

It is good to do the SEO work, but do not JUST let the SEO drive the Content.

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