Happy Blogger Tip Tuesday! Okay, that’s not really a thing, but maybe it should be! A lot of my blogging friends have just switched to self hosting and I thought I’d share my top five plugins for the self hosted blogger! Keep in mind, I use wordpress as my platform, so if you use blogger or another service, you might not have the same options.
- Commentluv – by far my favorite plugin! This allows you to link to your readers’ blogs when they comment on yours. It’s fantastic and it really helps to encourage comments.
- Pin It Button – do you want people to be able to easily Pin your posts? Install this plugin to get the hover Pin It button!
- Shareaholic – this is an easy way for your readers to be able to share your posts to facebook, twitter, pinterest, etc.
- Online backup – not very fun, but a total necessity. You definitely do NOT want to discover that your site has crashed without all your hard work being backed up.
- Askiment – many bloggers use captcha (which I loathe) because they can’t figure out how to get rid of spam otherwise. Well this is how you get rid of spam. Use this plugin and you will see little to none. Promise!
What are your must-have plugins?
I hadn’t heard of Commentluv before – I’ll definitely check it out. Thanks for the tip!
Stef – it’s one of my favorite plugins for sure! I think you’d love it!
This is a great informative post. I have been seriously considering moving my blog to be self-hosted. I am currently on wordpress and feel that I don’t have many options left to grow my blog. How hard was it to switch your blog over to a self-hosted site? and is it easy? I am not computer savvy at all.
Lindsey @ OneMotherofaDay recently posted…A Day in the Life of……One Mother of a Day
Lindsey, check out my posts on self hosting. Here’s part one: http://eatprayrundc.com/2013/10/15/learninghowtoselfhostpartone/
Thank you! I literally just went through the last 3 months of your posts on blogging and pinned them all! I want to start putting more time and effort into my blog. I have kind of dropped off the blogging world for a while. by the way, I love your blog! It is very informative, easy to follow and inspiring!
Lindsey @ OneMotherofaDay recently posted…A Day in the Life of……One Mother of a Day
Thanks Lindsey for the sweet comments — I’m glad you find some of these tips helpful – let me know if you have questions – particulary on the self hosting issue!
I put comment luv into my blogger site and I love it 🙂 It’s a great easy way to link over to commenters’ recent posts. I’m going to try to add the pin it button this weekend hopefully.
Chaitali recently posted…Ouch…strength training class
which plugin do you use for Pinterest? I installed one the other day and uninstalled it b/c it messed up the alignment of my photos. Weird. But I agree with this list!! Love CommentLuv and Askimet has saved my life!
Mar @ Mar on the Run! recently posted…Marathon Training, Week 9 and StrideBox Review
I use the Pin It Button Pro – I did have to pay for it, but I’m pretty sure there are Pin It hover buttons that are free!
I use JQuery Pin it Button, and it’s free.
Kimberly recently posted…One Day Closer than Yesterday
I use JQuery too and it works great.
I HATE captcha! My blog is about to undergo a make over, so I might ask my designer to include some of these. Great ideas, thanks!
Courtney @The TriGirl Chronicles recently posted…Pay It Forward
For the love of Bloggers everywhere, I hope people get rid of CAPTCHA!! I would like to use comentluv but i’m on blogger and can’t figure it out! I do have the hover over PIN IT button and it was free!
Meranda@fairytalesandfitness recently posted…Tasty Tuesday: What’s The Deal With Star Fruit?
Meranda…girl I HATE captcha! UGH! Anyway, see below…Chaitali uses commentluv on blogger – maybe she can help you out?
THANK YOU! I am going to download commentluv today! This is really helpful since I am still so new to all this blogging stuff!
Sara @ lifebetweenthemiles recently posted…The Sun Wine Fest
I think my biggest and favorite plugin is the comment reply notification on WP. I am amazed at how many bloggers don’t have this turned on. Readers won’t always remember to come back and check for comments, so if we don’t get a notification, we might never know. It takes the work away from the reader and makes it seamless. I did a blog post on it because I’ve slowly realized how few of bloggers actually have it installed!
susan @ suddenlysusan.com recently posted…Review + Giveaway: Fitbook
Very true, Susan! That’s a great tip! I’m going to go find your post now 🙂
I use all five of these as well. Some other basic ones I like are Recipe Card, Simple Social Icons, Wordfence Security, the WordPress Editorial Calendar, and my favorite paid plugin is Thrive Content Builder.
Kimberly recently posted…One Day Closer than Yesterday
are those only for the self hosted blog? Or can I use them if I don’t? Thanks for the tips though, got them pinned so I can check later.
Betsy recently posted…Thankful Tuesday
Betsy, if you have the ability to add plugins then you should be able to. 🙂
Always so helpful on the self hosting front! I’ll definitely have to get that online backup one.
Nicole @ Fitful Focus recently posted…Workout News!
Thanks for these! I definitely need to figure out Askimet. When I went self-hosted, it wanted me to pay for Askimet and I was like NO because I had just paid to go self-hosted 😉 I love the comment reply plugin that (hopefully) let’s people know when I’ve commented back. I’m definitely going to add CommentLuv to my plugins!
Lindsay @ Lindsay Weighs In recently posted…On Facing Your Fears: Running With A Local Running Group
I think Askimet comes with the Jetpack thing from wordpress.com, right? I don’t think I had to do anything to have it work except enable Jetpack and set up the options I wanted.
I love plugins and was having so much fun finding ones to set up when I moved to self-hosted. I still have a few things I want to tweak. I use the Pin It button from Pinterest and like it. The shareaholic, and a few other things.
Cynthia @ You Signed Up For What?! recently posted…Blogger On The (Very Cold) Run
Oh, thank you! I have Akismet and love it. I’m checking out Comment Luv and the Pin-It button now!
Debbie @ Deb Runs recently posted…Hanging On To My Nike Air Pegasus A Little Too Long
Glad the post was helpful 🙂