11 WordPress plugins I use to rule the internet…and you don’t!

Every now and then, I like to share some of the plugins that I use across various blogs that I manage. Not the ones you already know about, like Akismet or WP-Super Cache, but the good stuff. The WordPress plugins that will give you that edge over your competition.

I’m sharing these on one condition: you don’t use any of them to compete against me. 😉

Facebook Like Thumbnail – you know when someone shares your homepage (or any page for that matter) on Facebook and either it ends up with no thumbnail or picks some random image from the page? Yeah, this plugin takes care of that issue in seconds!

Hover – want to explain more about a feature or option on your site? Use this plugin to designate text boxes that appear when a user hovers over selected words. You can see it in use on our Pricing page.

Link Juice Keeper – don’t want to mess with individual 301 redirects? This simple plugin creates 301s for all missing pages, redirecting them back to your homepage.

Relevanssi – if you have any kind of content/article site, you absolutely must install this WordPress plugin. It puts your site’s search box on steroids. Instead of the lame chronologically ordered search results, you can customize how results are ordered, increase relevance, and even bold matching keywords. It’s like Google for your site search!

Theme Tester – if you ever find yourself needing to upgrade your WordPress theme this is a must have plugin. It allows you to switch themes while only showing the new theme to admins of your site. With this plugin, I was able to complete the redesign of the Trackur site and Go Visit Hawaii all behind the scenes.

WP Greet Box – this handy little WordPress plugin allows you to display customized messages to visitors depending on the referring source. Unlike those annoying pop-ups, WP Greet Box simply inserts the message before each post. Lots of customization to get your targeting just right!

Facebook Likes List – if you’ve ever wanted to show a sidebar list of your most popular posts, ordered by Facebook likes, you’ve probably been frustrated at the lack of plugins to help. Well, thanks to Andrew Norcross, you can now add a simple widget to any WordPress site!

Pinterest Pin It Button For Images – this simple WordPress plugin lets you add a “Pin This” hover button to any image in your blog posts. 😉

WP-Click-Tracker – your regular analytics will keep track of which links within your site get clicked, but this plugin will also keep track of ALL link clicks on your site–even those pointing to external web sites!

Facebook Page Publish – automatically publishes new blog posts to your Facebook wall!

Thumbnail Viewer – this WordPress plugin simply offers a better way to show larger images on your blog. Instead of a user going to a blank page with just your large image, it uses a Lightbox type effect to show the larger image in an overlay.

OK, that should keep you busy! Like I said, I’m listing those that you’ve probably not heard of. I also use many of the usual suspects for SEO, caching, advertising, etc and I also use a few for security and malware prevention.

What’s in your arsenal of WordPress plugins?