Although the team at Social Pollen can set-up, design, and run any type of site, it’s no secret I love WordPress. I recommend it to every customer, no matter what site they are setting up. Many of my customers use WordPress as well, so as part of our blog we are going to offer some tips and tricks to WordPress every week. They will range from simple to advanced; let us know if there is something you would like to learn more about by leaving us a comment below.

Last week, I covered the WordPress plug-ins that I considered essential. This week I am going to cover the plug-ins I love, but don’t install on every site. Some of them are site specific, and some are just to make my life easier. But first, a update to wordpress came out this week. This update is v3.03 and here is why it was released:

“This release fixes issues in the remote publishing interface, which under certain circumstances allowed Author- and Contributor-level users to improperly edit, publish, or delete posts.” Remote publishing is disabled by default, but WordPress recommends making sure it is not enabled by checking settings on the “Settings ? Writing” screen.

The files affected by the update are;
wp-includes/version.php
xmlrpc.php
readme.html
wp-admin/includes/update-core.php

Make sure, you update your WordPress when you next log-in. That is a nice segue into my plug-in recommendations because one of the plug-ins I use is;

WordPress Automatic Upgrade- This is a nice plug-in that takes 5 step to update your WordPress. It backs up your sites, installs the new release, and then deletes any old files from the update. It’s a nice way to update in a fail-safe manner. If something goes wrong, nothing gets lost.

WP Touch- This is a recent find and I already love it. WPtouch automatically transforms your WordPress blog into an iPhone application-style, which is necessary these days.

SexyBookmarks- The best sharing plug-in. I install it on all my clients websites, it is the best way for your readers to share your content to all the sites you love.

Search Meter- It can be very enlightening to know what your readers are searching for- this plug-in keeps track of that information for you.

Exclude Pages from Navigation- There are a lot of reasons to have pages not on the top menu of the site, this plug-in adds a check box and presto- no page on the menu.

Disqus Comment System- There are actually two great comment systems out there, Disqus and Intense Debate. I highly recommend these over the standard WordPress comment system? Why? More options, easier for replies, better interface, and it keeps track of your comments across the web.

That’s it for now. If I stumble over any other gems, I’ll be sure to let you know. Next week- favicons.