1. Google Maps in Posts: We are going first to our friends over at WordPress.org, as we know they have a massive range of resources and guides for WordPress applications.  They offer the Google Maps plugin as a download in their download area and can be found here http://WordPress.org/extend/plugins/google-maps-in-posts/.  This means that posts relating to events can be mapped and specific locations shown, plus you can add a ‘home’ location for yourself should you need to. You need to be running WordPress 2.2 or higher for this plugin to work.
2. Calendar: We think you are going to see a lot of WordPress.org for these plugins; we go back to them now for their calendar plugin.  This is an excellent tool that means you can set up and manage your events calendar and share them with your users. It is simple to use. Have a look here at http://WordPress.org/extend/plugins/calendar/ for more information or to download it. It has all the usual calendar features, including a good range of viewing options from monthly view to viewing events by specific category.
3. WP Newsletter Plugin for WordPress: A proper plugin bundle here, if you want to be able to offer your users a newsletter and be able to handle email subscribers with opt in and opt out facilities then this could be for you. You can easily set up a newsletter then download your contact list and bulk mail the letter to them. For more information visit the lovely people at SendBlaster.com where you can download all you need to get started: http://www.sendblaster.com/WordPress-newsletter-double-optin-widget/
4. Business Directory Plugin: This really does what it says and provides you with a plugin that allows you to have a directory on your blog that you can either add to or invite your users to add their details to, depending on your business needs.  The site offers a good range of supporting documentation and help pages, and you can find all of this and download the plug in here: http://businessdirectory.squarecompass.com/
5. FAQ Builder: Another excellent business tool for your WordPress is a FAQ section meaning you can offer your clients important information that crops up regularly in a more sensibly structured way than a series of posts to the blog, which gets messy and isn’t very user friendly.  The FAQ builder from Square Compass is an excellent tool that isn’t hard to get to grips with and comes from the same people as the business directory people, so again you get a good level of supporting documentation and help pages. Download the FAQ Builder here: http://faqbuilder.squarecompass.com/

Hopefully you have found at least one plugin you can use that will enhance the usability of your WordPress blog. Presenting a professional image will tell your visitors that you are serious about your blog and that you want to give them a good experience while they are visiting your site.

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1. WP-PageNavi is a great tool that can be used to enhance the pagination on WordPress.  Default settings include a previous and next link.  However, the PageNavi plugin allows for a more attractive and more useful navigation system.  Instead of two options, you can choose from first, last, previous and next.  But it also has individual pages so you can click on a particular page and it shows that page you are on and how many are available.
2. WP-PostViews is a great plugin that outlines the most viewed posts on your site.  When a new user is just visiting your site, they will no longer have to wade through pages and pages of posts and instead can immediately get to the posts that are most popular based on number of views per post.  This is a great way to get a new user immediately interested in your posts by sending them to the most viewed ones first.
3. BreadcrumbNavXT is a way to add breadcrumbs to your site.  Breadcrumbs give the extended link navigation so it is easy to follow.  Users can navigate to a broader or more narrow category by using the breadcrumbs at the top of the page.  Breadcrumbs look like “Home Page -> Broad Category -> Detailed Category -> Blog Post” or can be customized to as many levels as you need.
4. The Related Posts plugin is a great way to refer users to other posts they may find interesting.  It lists posts that are similar or related in some way to the post they are currently reading based on keywords.  This is a great way to keep a user on your site longer by referring them to other posts they may find interesting.
5. Add the Search Everything plugin to allow users to search for exactly what they want to read on your site.  Tags, keywords, comments and user defined criteria are all searchable so that a user looking for specific information can easily find it.
6. Drop Down Menus such as PixoPoint allows users to browse through categories in a convenient drop down navigation menu and then jump to the category they want.  If they want to browse to a sub category they can do so without first going to the parent making it easier, faster and more convenient.
7. Change Permalinks to be more SEO friendly by using the Permalinks Moved Permanently plugin.  Users who are already on your site may have bookmarked particular blog posts.  Search engines have indexed your posts.  These links will go to a specific page in your site based on the title of your blog.  However, the default titling of posts is not SEO friendly and should be changed.  If you have already established a blog and need to change the permalink titles, use this plugin so older links and indexing is not changed.  Instead the new page will be displayed based on the old link.
8. A sitemap is essential for good navigation and it is also useful for search engine optimization purposes, especially with Google.  Use the Google Sitemap tool to automatically generate and update your sitemap in a standard format for use with Google and other search engines.
9. The Multi Page Toolkit plugin is a great way to allow you to easily navigate through long blog posts.  Ideally blog posts should be concise but some topics just need a lot of discussion.  If you want to have a blog that will span multiple pages, the Multi Page Toolkit is the ideal addition.
10. Make sure your sidebar navigation does exactly as you want it to and is useful for your particular users.  The needs may change from blog to blog because of the unique demographic of your users.  WordPress has a variety of options available for customizing your sidebar to make it as useful as possible to your audience.  Use the WP codex (http://codex.Wordpress.org/Customizing_Your_Sidebar) for your sidebar to determine which options will suit you best.

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What is hotlinking?  For anyone unfamiliar with the term this means that someone links to your post or your image.  Instead of using the host of the person linking to the image, the link is served from the original web server, essentially stealing your bandwidth.  This can mean increased traffic you may need to account for or even simple copyright infringement issues to deal with.  Without permission, this practice can be a nuisance at best and damaging at worst.  But, is there anything that can be done about this?

Hotlink protection can be enabled through the .htaccess file however, for novice users this can be daunting and complicated.  So, the solution is to use a WordPress plugin called Hotlink Protection.  All you need to do is install and activate it and then choose some particular settings.  The plugin itself will default to not allowing hotlinking of images and will instead substitute another image.  The default image that is displayed is a standard circle with a line through it.  However, you can modify this image to a custom image of your choice if you wish.

This is a great option for anyone who wants to ensure their images attached to blog posts are not stolen or hotlinked.  You can choose to use the default image or create an interesting or even funny image instead.  It is easy to use and perfect for those who are not savvy with coding.

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However, for older WordPress blogs or for those who already have blog posts using the default system, changing the permalinks may cause some problems.  First, if a user has bookmarked or posted the link elsewhere, the old link will no longer work which may detract traffic from your site.  Next, it may affect search engine indexing of your site which will directly affect search engine optimization.  This can be quite problematic but there is a solution that will allow you to change your permalinks without adversely affecting Google indexing, Yahoo indexing, other search engine results or bookmarked links.

The way to accomplish this change is to use a simple plugin that is available for WordPress.  The plugin name is the Permalinks Migration Plugin (http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/permalinks-migration-plugin-for-wordpress/) available through WordPress.  All you need to do is download and install the plugin to WordPress.  There are now two settings you need to define.  First, put in the setting you used to use for your permalinks.  Then, put in your new format that you will use from now on.  Save your settings and all links will revert to your  new pages without losing any indexing.

This is a great way to change your site with existing content and site links without adversely affecting your traffic and SEO.  Once you are finished setting up the plugin, go to a search engine where you have results (such as Google) and search for a particular link.  Even if it shows the old format, click on it.  This should automatically redirect you to the newly formatted link title without any problem.

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