WordPress has more rich features than many other similar publishing platforms. It is open and extendible, and an excellent open source community. As a result, the millions of bloggers that use WordPress have access to hundreds upon hundreds of plugins. Let’s look at 7 WordPress plugins worth trying.
1. WordPress Pro Event Calendar – This calendar plugin gives you a sleek calendar that is very professional looking. It is completely responsive. You can use it on your posts, pages, or even inside your widgets.
2. User Badges – This is a WordPress plugin that lets you give awards and badges for your blog users. Badges engage users and it has been shown that these users will be far more interactive on your blog, just so they can earn a new badge.
3. WordPress Weather Forecast Plugin – This is a powerful plugin that is actually based on Google weather. It detects location automatically using GeoIP database. It supports both Celsius and Fahrenheit and the images create a much better user experience.
4. Banner Rotator – The All in One Banner WordPress plugin gives you five different types of WordPress banner plugins to work with including Thumbnails Banner, Banner Rotator, Content Slider, Banner with Playlist, and Carousel.
5. WordPress Hovercards – The name describes exactly what you are getting. This powerful, in-depth, instant engine is fully customizable and will display hovercards on your blog. You’ve seen these on many sites like Twitter or Facebook where you hover over something or someone and it provides you with details that encourage you to explore the site more and stick around. It’s a great add on for WordPress!
6. Media Grid – Using Media Grid you can easily create unlimited responsive portfolios and they are also filterable. The Media Grid plugin uses the latest jQuerey and CSS3 technology, which allows you to adjust each of the portfolios to the container, whether it’s short or wide it will grid properly.
7. KenBurner Slider WordPress Plus – You can customize this slider simply by dragging and dropping on the backend. It can be customized to meet your specific needs. You can give each of the sliders a caption in which to send your message. Use the Ken Burns Animated banner component.
There you have it – seven of the top WordPress plugins you should be aware of and certainly try. WordPress does not limit the number of plugins you can add; however, if you use too many it is likely to slow your site down, which you don’t want. Don’t be afraid to explore the many WordPress plugins to find the right match for you and your blog.
