Many of our clients are using WordPress as a CMS because of it’s extreme ease of use and large number of plugins made available by its community. One thing we take for granted is the knowledge behind what makes a WordPress plugin worthwhile. Is it the idea or the implementation? Maybe it’s both. But furthermore we take for granted the number of popular plugins and rarely take a look to see who has possibly done it better.

So here are a few of the things I take into consideration before installing a new WordPress plugin on our site.

Age

Basically, if a plugin hasn’t been updated within the last few months there is cause for concern. Was the plugin really that good to begin with that it never needed to be updated? Chances are someone just forgot about it and it may not even be compatible with your current version of WordPress.

Speaking of compatibility. The WordPress plugin directory just added a new community moderated compatibility box. Once this takes off, if it takes off, it could become the most reliable way to find updated plugins.

Popularity

Another sign of a quality plugin is just it’s popularity. Every plugin allows you to view it’s stats which can be a great metric for the plugins quality. Spikes in traffic are usually do to high profile referrals from sites like Smashing Magazine and LifeHacker which is usually a good sign the plugin is worthwhile.

Rating

Now just because a plugin is up to date and very popular does not mean it’s going to work the way you want. I always check the ratings and look into anything with less than 3 stars.

Proof of Concept

This is usually the first thing I look at when trying to decide between multiple plugins that serve the same function. Most good plugins will have a Screenshots page. I like this for two reasons:

1. It shows how the plugin works and what your getting
2. It shows the developer took the extra time to set up their readme.txt with the proper information

However, if there are no screenshots I’ll usually click on the Plugin Homepage link to see a working demo or screenshots on the authors site.

Support

When all else fails, this is the best way to learn the inner workings of a plugin without installing it. It’s the easiest way to see what’s working and what’s not. Just look for the “See what others are saying…” text on the plugins Description page for a list of forum topics about the plugin. No topics can mean it’s just not popular or has no problems.

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So now that you’re better educated on the art of finding new WordPress plugins, go and explore the WordPress directory with ease.

• I can’t find a link to your Twitter account
• You’re social bookmarking buttons don’t work
• I can’t find any contact info
• I can’t find an ‘About’ page

And the list goes on.

I honestly don’t think we pay enough attention to the usability of our websites sometimes. So this is where your mom comes in. Well it doesn’t have to be your mom, but someone outside of your little social media bubble should take a look at your blog and report back to you on how intuitive it is. Have them click around and ask questions, you might be surprised what they come up with.

I see most businesses approaching social media the same way. The first thing they look for is a standard set of best practices and social media etiquette. Then they might go off and find some case studies or social media marketing examples. If they aren’t overwhelmed by the diverse results they receive they will most likely adopt the best social media strategy for their business.

But is this enough?

Some of the best social media campaigns and strategies are those where someone wasn’t afraid to tread new ground. Social Media is really just the word that describes a collection of websites that help us communicate and share information. It’s what we share and how we are sharing it that really matters.

Be original

Any time you post something, first do the proper research to see if someone else wrote about the same topic. Be sure that your unique point of view is adding to the conversation and not just echoing the thoughts of others. This happens more commonly than people think and a few simple google searches can clear the air and possibly even help you push the subject further.

Experiment

Wordpress, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter aren’t the only social media sites out there. There are hundreds if not thousands of niche networks out there you could be using to target a more precise audience if necessary. Furthermore, there are a number of ways you can use your existing networks to get more exposure and encourage the sharing of your content or message. You often see the more creative of these messages surfacing to the top. Try something different and you will be more likely to be heard.

These tools are all still in their infancy and no one really knows the best way to use them or where they’ll be in a few years. There is no need to leave it up to the “experts” and “influencers” to lead you on your journey when you can very well create your own path to success.

- Photo by Alejandro Hernandez

We at Magicomm are planning a complete website overhaul however I thought it would be nice to give our blog a jump start. We didn’t give it a complete overhaul but rather took a close look at some of its functions and contemplated their purpose.

Social Bookmarking Links

We were previously using sociable as an easy solution however, it ultimately presented two problems:

1. No one was clicking on the links because they were small and not actionable
2. We couldn’t track who was clicking on the links

We in turn narrowed the social bookmarking sites down to Reddit, StumbleUpon, Digg and Delicous as they were ultimately the most used. We also used the provided widgets from Digg and Reddit as well as custom programmed AddThis analytics functionality to the StumbleUpon and Delicous links.

Post Collections

Some of our most popular posts were part if ‘Printer Tweet Tips‘ or ‘The Dead Series‘ yet we weren’t pushing people to the series overview pages. This was easily solved with some new visual links in the sidebar.

Contributors

You can see which Magicomm employee composed a specific post by looking at the bottom of any specific page however, there was no list of all blog contributors anywhere in the site. Once again, this was easily resolved by replacing the rarely used ‘Archive’ section of the sidebar with a ‘Contributors’ section.

New Plugins

There is always someone working on something that’s going to bring social media to a new level. It’s everyone else’s job to find these new services, plugins and products and put them to good use. We feel passionately about providing more value to Tweets about blog posts and therefore installed the CommenTwitter plugin. The idea is that people can tweet their comments to a post right from the comment form. This generates traffic to that users comment as well as the blog …. basically a win-win.

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So when is the last time you looked at your blog and made some changes for the better?

I want it and I want it now! We’re becoming more and more like Veruca Salt from Willy Wonka by the minute. The only difference is we don’t have to go to our daddy’s. We go to the next best thing, Google.

The benefits of a quality website surpass that of almost any marketing campaign you can conceive. The idea is to become the result of your target audience’s wants and needs. I’m not here to throw numbers around trying to convince you of the benefits of search engine optimization. The benefits are obvious at this point. I want to bring it up a level. The truth is that a well optimized site by itself probably wont drive too much quality traffic to your site.

Time for me to take that broken record off pause and let it spin again, QUALITY CONTENT IS KING. If you’re not tired of hearing it by now then, well, you probably haven’t heard it enough. I want to encourage you to really start experimenting with the content of your blog.

A couple of ways to come up with quality content is to:

• Write a post about a question you found on LinkedIn or Yahoo Answers
• Come up with a list of top resources within your industry
• Experiment with video posts and possibly interview clients, co-workers and friends

Well first I’d like to note that if you’re in the business of blogging to make money then your probably in the wrong business. I only say this because I believe blogging is more about helping other people than helping yourself. If your blogging strictly for money, the quality of your content will go down over time and you will begin a counterproductive spiral ultimately resulting in your blog being labeled as spam. So rather than think about the money, think about all the lost souls you will save with your life changing content”.

Okay, so now on to the part where you make money.

Turning readers into leads

The first and most natural way you’re company will benefit from maintaining a blog is through legitimate business sales. Through your blog, the masses will begin to recognize the sincerity and worth of you business thus becoming more likely to do business with you. Before purchasing a product or using a service, people tend to research by asking friends and family, looking on search engines and reading blogs. By maintaining a blog you can help control your company’s message and possibly stimulate positive conversation around your company’s brand”.

Advertisements and Affiliate Links

Google’s adwords is probably the most popular advertising medium on the web because of it’s ease of use and, well to be honest, Google seems pretty trustworthy. There are also plenty of other niche specific and cross-media advertising solutions if you look in the right places. A few to get you started could be; Text Link Ads, BlogAds, DoubleClick, Adbrite , Clicksor , TextAds , Fastclick .

It is recommended that if you plan to advertise on your blog that you do it from day one. The thought process is people are more likely to become used to seeing the ads. If you wait until you grow a following and then start to advertise, it is more likely users will become irritated.

Affiliates links are another easy way to make some money off of your blog and you can choose what links you think suit your site the best. Amazon and Clickbank are two of the more popular sites however there are plenty other services to choose from.

Paid Reviews and Paid Blogging

If you company is blogging about a specific industry there is always the possibility of being approached to blog about a specific product or service. Likewise, another company might hire you to guest post on their blog if they feel they might benefit from your input. There are sites like Bloggers for Hire among others that can help facilitate the paid blogging job search.

When all is said and done, remember not to make it about the money, CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT, and everything else will fall into place around it.

UPDATE: Go here for 101 other ideas

A lot of businesses have made the initial move online with some sort of company website however few have made the leap into the blogosphere. Hopefully by the end of this post you will see the benefit of maintaining a blog for your company.

First let me introduce you to the elephant in the room that is Social Media. The internet has changed the way we communicate from emails to IMs but within that last couple of years we’ve started to see communities of people emerge from the interweb. These communities encourage a whole new train of thought as to how we interact and ultimately trust each other. Social Media marketing involves giving back to the community in hopes that people will ultimately look to you for answers to industry specific questions. Now there are a couple of ways to accomplish this.

First there are Social Networking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and Plaxo where anyone can join an online community and immediately connect to thousands if not millions of other users. Within these communities you’ll tend to see alot of guerilla marketing and spamming while people try and make their brand known. The successful social media marketers are the ones who only give positive feedback to other people’s questions and ultimately become a resource to the community. Its all about establishing yourself and your company as leaders and experts within your field.

Another popular approach is through Social Bookmarking sites. These dynamic directories of information change based on the general consensus of the greater population. To have your company, or blog post, featured on the front page of one of these sites is guaranteed traffic in your companies direction.

Now both of these social media marketing approaches work on their own however there is one key component missing that helps retain your online following, your blog. A blog is pretty much an online journal where you are putting out information into the web. There are popular blog directories and indexing sites that will take your blogs RSS feed and share it with the rest of the world. The great thing about RSS feeds is that they are cross media ready. They allow for people to easily subscribe to your blog so they can view it with their favorite feed aggregator, wethere it be online, on their desktop, or on their phone. Over time you will see your subscriber base grow and as a result more business opportunities will begin to unfold.

Now the key thing about blogging it to be sure you are putting out quality, on topic, content and that you post regularly. This may seem like quite a chore but in reality it should only take up a half hour of your day.

One concern many companies have about blogging is how to control unwanted comments on their blog. Well, ultimately you can delete these entries however i would consider addressing them. This could be a great opportunity to clear the air on a touchy topic within your industry.

What you are doing is putting a face to your company. Your giving your company an existence that can act and react and it will give your business the human touch that social media revolves around.

Please feel free to comment, rant or complain and I’ll be glad to converse with you :)