OK, so this is a bit of a departure from the usual ‘serious’ plugins I blog about. As I have a little of the Christmas spirit in me (mainly Rum) at the moment I thought I would give you a rundown of my Top 5 Christmas plugins for WordPress. I could only find 5 items, I just couldn’t bring myself to subject my readership to some of the hideous Christmas crap out there on the interweb. For ‘serious’ plugins please see Top 10 WordPress Plugins – November 2008.

If you think there is a plugin worth a mention next month or you have developed a plugin and would like it reviewed please comment or contact admin@enterprisemastermind.com

1. Snowfall Plugin

Go to download page
Does what it says on the tin really. Lets you have lovely snowflakes falling down your visitors screens and stuff. You specify the graphic you want to use so I suppose this could be a Valentines day plugin (hearts) or anything else you want. Guaranteed to reduce your readership considerably. Use sparingly.

2. ChristmasSprite – Christmas CountDown

Go to download page
Lets you place a flash banner on your blog that counts down to christmas. See below. Especially useful if your readership regularly lose track of the day they are in and need a reminder.

What your reader might not say: “Really? Great, glad I came here now”.

3. Christmas Days theme

Go to download page
Not a plugin I know, but out of the Christmas themes available for your beloved WordPress, this is probably one of the least offensive to your eyeballs.

4. Let it snow!

Go to download page
Another snowfall plugin I’m afraid. In case you wanted 2. Or have 2 blogs and wanted a different snowfall plugin on each. Whatever.

5. Vermilion Christmas Theme

Go to download page
I thought this would be easy, but I really struggled to find 5 half-decent items for this post. That fact is reflected here. Enjoy… or not.

Check back next month when normality will resume and there will be useful stuff here instead of all this garbage. Bah humbug!

Oh, and to all of my readers – have a happy Christmas and New Year! I hope Santa brings you a booklet explaining where everything has gone to in WP 2.7.

I will be posting my top 10 WordPress Plugins monthly to let you know which ones I am currently finding most useful. They are in order of which I feel are most important to my blogs with number 1 being most important. I would recommend that you try these plugins for yourselves but do emphasise that you read all documentation and that I take no responsibility for any problems caused by the installation or use of these plugins.

If you think there is a plugin worth a mention here or you have developed a plugin and would like it reviewed please comment or contact admin@enterprisemastermind.com.

1. WordPress Database Backup

Go to download page
As a Web Developer I have learnt the hard way in the past of the importance of regular backups, not only of your website data itself but also the database. The plugin itself is easy to use with simple backup options including the ability to schedule an email that includes your database backup as an attachment. Genius.

2. Akismet

Bundled with WordPress and for good reason. Without a spam blocker such as this your comment queue would be full of trash in no time at all. Requires a WordPress API key to function. If you haven’t got this plugin activated already, do it now!

3. ShareThis

Go to download page
A great and unobtrusive plugin that lets your readers email or share a page with others via Social Bookmarking. Get your blog noticed.

4. Google XML Sitemaps

Go to download page
If you don’t know how beneficial Google Sitemaps can be to your blog then read my article on SEO. Once set up this plugin will inform Google of any changes or additions made to your site automatically.

5. WP-Ads

Go to download page
A brilliant tool this – enabling you to serve multiple ads within the same post or from postions within your template. Once a banner or other ad has been set up, you simply place the supplied tag where you wish the ad or ads to serve.

6. CodeBanter’s Optin Box

Go to download page
Lets you easily place a GetResonse or Aweber Optin form within your blog. You can alter the forms appearance within its own admin settings page.

7. Audio Player

Go to download page
This plugin lets you add a nifty little audio player within your blog pages or posts. You can specify seperate files for the lead-in and lead-out and the appearance of the player itself can be altered to fit your blog’s colour theme.

8. WordPress.com Stats

Go to download page
This plugin allows you to track views, post/page views, referrers and clicks. It requires a WordPress API key to enable the plugin.

9. Nextgen Gallery and Nextgen Gallery Widget

Go to download page
A highly configurable Web 2.0 gallery and slideshow plugin using jQuery to good effect. Also comes with a widget to allow you to have slideshows of your galleries within your sidebar.

10. RSS Includes Pages

Go to download page
If like me you use WordPress as a CMS to build websites as well as blogs you will no doubt have found that Pages are not included in the RSS feed. Well, with this plugin your problems are over. Simply install, activate and voila, your pages will appear within the feed.

Check back next month to see which plugins I’m recommending!

Haven’t read Part 1 yet?
Building your first website part 1 – using a website designer

I would always advocate using a professional to build your website but circumstances are not always the same and there are many reasons why doing this may not be an option. If this is the case and you must go down the DIY route here’s a few pointers that might just help.

Using an build-your-own web based system with your ISP

Internet service providers such as 1and1 and 123-reg offer the ability to build a website using a limited range of supplied templates within their own browser based control panels.

These web based interfaces are easy to use and configure but the resulting websites are usually noticeably ‘cheap’ looking and lacking in any sort of sophistication, fine if your business does not rely on its image for sales.

Using professional web design software

Not for the faint-hearted and probably not an option unless you already know how to code.

Whilst the applications themselves let you build websites using a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) interface you will still need to learn the rudimentary HTML, XHTML, CSS etc. needed to fine tune a website. It can take years to learn and like any skill you need to have an aptitude for it.

Using website building software

There are many website building programs on the market, some of which are much better than others. Look for the ability to use your own webspace, some systems will only allow you to use their own proprietary hosting. Check the quality of the templates on offer with the package, do they have that professional look you were after? If possible download a demo and try that first, if you don’t like it at least you have wasted no money.

Using WordPress

The ONLY system I would recommend for any business that wanted to have web presence that they could build and manage themselves without employing a professional.

The advantages of a WordPress blog based CMS (content management system) are numerous, but the main advantage is the ability to control almost every aspect of the website from within a browser, which means no matter where you are, as long as you have access to a computer and the internet, you can update or make changes to the structure and content of your website. It is free and because it is based upon open source architecture, updates are regular. Functionality can be added in the form of ‘plugins’ which can be turned on and off at the click of a mouse.

Blogging Rocket

This entire website is built on a WordPress platform and gives you an indication of its power but if you really want to know all about building a WordPress site for your business there is no better place to visit than our good friends over at Blogging Rocket (www.bloggingrocket.com). Visit them now and find out why you should consider WordPress as a platform for your business website.

In the first part of this 2-part series I will be assuming that you won’t be building the website yourself and you will be using the services of a web designer/developer.

Why choose a Web Designer and not do it yourself?

It is great to have a go at building a website yourself but if you were to tote up all those hours you spent doing it and then converted those hours into lost money, could you really justify it? OK, so you know how to put up a picture but could you build the wall it’s on? Sometimes getting a professional to do the job for you can be far more cost effective. Hopefully you will have read my previous 2-part articles on choosing a domain name and choosing a hosting provider, the latter you can usually leave with the web designer if you don’t want the hassle as most of them will offer their own hosting packages as part of the deal.

What should I look for in a Web Designer?

Good looks, …actually we’re all good looking, so that’s not going to help. No seriously, if you want a good website designed, it follows you need a good website designer. But how do you find one? Here’s a few little things to look for when choosing:

1. Look at their portfolio

A good web designer will always show examples of his work (preferably online!). The designs should show diversity, not all be based upon the same idea and should reflect the needs of the target audience. If the designer has no examples to show then steer clear.

2. Do they listen?

If you phone or meet the web designer and they do all the talking alarm bells should ring. A good web designer will listen to what YOU want, not be afraid to give suggestions and ideas but never dictate to you. Remember, it’s your site and you are in control. If they have no ideas of their own then perhaps you should choose a web designer who has!

3. Is design all they do?

You will need to get your website designed with the search engines in mind. Make sure that the designer is up to scratch when it comes to getting your site seen on the web. Ask them if they design within web standards and ask them for examples of high ranking sites they have on Google (make sure that the search terms they give you are not too specific).

4. Words of praise

Ask for testimonials from past clients. Verify website testimonials by emailing or calling each client and asking what they thought of the service given.

Get your act together

When approaching a web designer it is best to be armed with the information they are going to need to make a start on your website. Getting this information together will save lots of phone calls, emails and time later on and will save your chosen web designer a few more grey hairs too.

Things you should do, or be prepared for, before giving the go-ahead:

1. Register a domain

If you haven’t registered a domain name either instruct your chosen web designer to register it on your behalf or do it yourself (the sooner the better, it can take 6 months for a new domain to be included in Google’s results).

2. Find out who are you dealing with

Meet or phone the web designer with a full brief (email this to them too).

3. Cover yourself

Get a written quote and make sure it covers your brief.

4. Make things easy

Write your website copy and email it to them. Collect together any photographs, images and your logo and email these to them if possible, if not good old snail mail will do.

5. Part with your money

Not as bad as it sounds, but most most professional web designers will ask for a deposit upfront before commencing with any design work. This will usually equate to around 25% – 50% of the total cost.

In part 2 I will be covering the easiest way to get your business onto the web yourself.