BlogMunch

blog migration series - Choosing Wordpress plugins

Migration of your blog is not an easy task. That’s why there are many bloggers who reflect on their first year blogging said that shifting to your own domain is of the first priority. I am starting a series of posts on my migration from Blogger to WordPress.org, so that I can share my knowledge to anyone wanting to migrate their blog . Blog Migration Series:

1. Choosing my Wordpress theme
2. Choosing a webhost
3. Choosing wordpress plugins

One of the key advantages of shifting to Wordpress is the wide variety of plugins available. Shifting from Blogger to Wordpress, the first thing you need to be familiarize with is the usage of plugins.

The first thing you need is a ftp client to upload the php files onto your server. Initially, I use the Unlimited ftp client from cpanel. It works fine but a bit slow. Now, I am using (as are everyone else) filezilla ftp client.

Plugins installed

Once I choose redoable theme from Dean J Robinson, my task in choosing plugins becomes simple. Redoable theme comes with a list of recommended plugins. Some of the plugins are even integrated into redoable options page. These are the ones I installed:

• Extended Live Archives v0.10beta-r18 - adds a nice archive template to my page menu. You can choose to show your archive post by date (Chronology) or categories (Taxonomy). Once activated, use redoable options to set integrated styling.
• Gregarious v1.5.2 and v2 beta - social bookmarking plugins. Pop up a small menu to social bookmaking sites like, Digg, Stumbleupon and Reddit. There is also a option to email your post to a friend.
• Related Posts v2.04 - I craved this when I was on Blogger and need to updated related posts by hand. The related posts chosen is not quite related, but I imagine when I have more postings, it will be better.
• Ultimate Category Cloud v2.0 (Based on Weighted Categories plugin) - Dean wrote this plugin himself. It will reassembled your categories into weighted clouded form.
• Subscribe to Comments v2.0.8 - Another one of my favorites. Being inform when a comment list is updated will improve audience participation. Just remember if you are subscribed to a popular post, to unsubscribe when your email load is too high. 

Plugins I am interested in but have not installed:

1. Lightbox/Slimbox - For fancy image display
2. WP-Cache - For protections against Digg or John Chow effect. I guess I don’t need this at the moment.
3. WP-DB-Backup - For backing up your Wordpress database. (Critical, must install soon)
4. Popularity Contest - For showing my most popular post

Of course, I have also installed other plugins like Akismet and Redirection (my plugin of the week), but I want to highlight the ones integrated into the redoable theme. You can always look for more plugins at Wordpress Codex. Oh, before I end, I have a tip. The options for your plugins might not always be at your options or plugins menu. For example, the options for Redirection is at the Manage tab. Go figure.

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