Top 10 WordPress Plugins of the Month – February 2012 Edition

Top 10 WordPress Plugins of the Month - February 2012 Edition

At ManageWP we are dedicated to showcasing the best new plugins available for our beloved content management system. And take it from us – there is no lack of quality amongst those yet to be discovered.

As anyone who has struggled through the WordPress Plugins Directory before, trying to find that perfect plugin can be a real nightmare. But there is now a simple solution – just keep tabs on our WordPress plugins of the month feature, and you will never be lacking inspiration!

What Makes This Different

If you saw last month’s Plugins of the Month post, you will know what to expect. For those of you who haven’t, this is not a run of the mill plugins showcase. These plugins are the underdogs – the diamonds in the rough – those that have yet to hit the mainstream. Each and every one of them has been downloaded less than 100,000 times – and some only have a few thousand downloads!

But this does not mean that they areΒ poor quality. After all, every single one of the most popular WordPress plugins available started with zero downloads. We are just giving you a way of finding the up and coming stars.

So without further ado, let’s take a look at this month’s plugins. Enjoy!

10. Ninja Forms Lite

Just when you thought that there were enough contact form plugins in the world, another one appears. However, Ninja Forms Lite is worthy of our attention, as it is both feature-packed and easy to use.

Ninja Forms Lite

It is easy to set up forms with the its drag and drop interface, and customizing them is no more difficult. There are also plenty of advanced features, such as Ajax submission, restrictive field input, and spam filters.

Download it here.

9. TheThe Image Slider

That is not a typo folks, but bad naming practices should not detract from the fact that this a pretty sexy plugin. It makes the idea of using an image gallery seem obsolete. Here are a couple of examples of what TheThe Image Slider can do:

TheThe Image Slider
Name individual slides.
TheThe Image Slider
Display slide thumbnails.

As the above screenshots suggest, you are spoilt for choice in terms of customization options. The potential applications for this plugin are numerous, and the slick presentation is bound to impress visitors to your site.

Download it here.

8. Special Recent Posts

That’s right – this aint no ordinary recent posts plugin – it is special. Seriously though, if you are looking for a simple but professional-looking way of displaying recent posts, this is a great option.

Special Recent Posts

The standard display will probably suit most people, but you can control the size of the thumbnail, the length of the excerpt, the number of posts to display, and more. The plugin’s developer does plan to include a related posts feature in a future update, which would really elevate Special Recent Posts above the competition.

Download it here.

7. Login Lock

For anyone who is concerned about potential security breaches, Login Lock is an excellent option to consider. It has a number of security features, including (but not limited to):

You have control over most of the security features and how they are implemented, as shown in part by this screenshot:

Login Lock

One of the best features of this plugin is an emergency “panic button”. This immediately logs out all users, resets their passwords, and informs them via email of the change.

Download it here.

6. Pinterest “Pin It” Button

Unless you have been hiding under a rock for the past few months, you will have heard of PinterestΒ – the newest social network sensation. Its growth is pretty astonishing, and it now drives more traffic than Google+, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Combined.

So, you may want to start “pinning”. More importantly, you may want to give your visitors the opportunity to pin your content. And that is where the Pinterest “Pin It” Button comes in. As you might expect, it allows you to embed “Pin It” buttons on your site:

Pin It

 

But it also affords you a great deal of flexibility as to the placement and formatting, including on which pages it should be displayed, and where on the page it should be displayed. You can even add custom CSS styling.

Download it here.

5. WP-AutoSocial

For the most part, you should not automate social media. By its very definition, it an interactive medium of communication. However, when it comes to scheduling blog posts, it is convenient to know that links to those posts will go out to your social networks when they are published.

WP-AustoSocial can help you with this by automatically publishing links to your blog posts to your Twitter and Facebook accounts. Setting it up is a straightforward process:

WP-AutoSocial

Just enable each feature as required and follow the instructions. As you can see, URL shortening is also available via the Bit.ly API.

Download it here.

4. Shortcodes Ultimate

In a nutshell, this plugin gives you 30+ customized shortcodes that allow you to do funky things with your WordPress site. Here is just a brief selection of what you can do by adding simple shortcodes to your post or page:

Shortcodes Ultimate

For anyone who wants to add some funky features to their site without getting their hands dirty with code, this is a great offering.

Download it here.

3. Terms Descriptions

Here is a simple fact – interlinking blog posts increases user engagement. It is something that all bloggers should practice. And this plugin makes doing so very simple. Check it out:

Terms Description

Terms Descriptions allows you to define “terms” (made up of one or more words) then assign links to them. Whenever a specific word is used in your content, Terms Descriptions will create a link to the pre-assigned URL.

The plugin offers loads of settings, including (but not limited to):

Download it here.

2. Social Toolbar

We all know that social media is important when it comes to blogging. It is extremely important to integrate social media platforms with your blog as much as possible. That is where Social Toolbar comes in.

Social Toolbar

Social Toolbar, as you might expect, adds a toolbar to the bottom of your blog that can feature all of your social networks. As you can see, there is additional functionality, including a display of your last tweet, sharing buttons, and more. There is also a premium version that unlocks additional settings.

Download it here.

1. WooCommerce

As you will know if you saw our recent Top 10 WordPress Premium Theme Designers post, we are fans of WooThemes. So it is with great interest that we feature WooCommerce – their fully-featured eCommerce plugin.

WooCommerce offers a wealth of options and functionality, but if you do have more specific requirements, they offer a wide range of premium extensions.

Download it here.

What Is Your Favorite?

So there you have it folks – another 10 plugins for you to check out. Which one is your favorite? Let us know in the comments section!

Tom Ewer

Tom Ewer is the founder of WordCandy.co. He has been a huge fan of WordPress since he first laid eyes on it, and has been writing educational and informative content for WordPress users since 2011. When he's not working, you're likely to find him outdoors somewhere – as far away from a screen as possible!

20 Comments

  1. murralii

    Good done, any plugin is there for multiple posts on different wordpress pages.

    1. Tom Ewer

      Author

      Not sure what you mean exactly…

  2. Deniel

    All plugins are very good. But this list is too big, if all installed , the website may not afford the heavy load. you’re not supposed to install ALL of them. Many offer duplicate functionality anyway. The point is to use this list to find the best plugins suitable to your site.

  3. Shasha

    There are other good plugins which are not mentioned..but great tips πŸ™‚

    1. Tom Ewer

      Author

      Care to share Shasha?

  4. endurotech

    Great collection.
    Used most of them and like them.

  5. Angela

    thanks, I’m looking for a wordpress plugin that allows me to publish a post to social media in one step from the wordpress admin, rather than creating a post in wordpress, copying the link, and using something like seesmic or hootesuite. Any recommendations?

    1. Tom Ewer

      Author

      Hey Angela,

      Any network in particular? You could try the official Facebook plugin for WordPress (although it’s had a shakey start), or WP to Twitter for Twitter.

      Cheers,

      Tom

  6. pardeep

    hi
    pls tell me how i increase my website traffic………………..

  7. GRVN

    They are all good stuff, i love “short code ultimate plugin”
    thanks your collection !!

  8. Ajnabii

    Hi Tom,

    Wonderful list of plugins, my favourite plugin is “Login Lock” and I really Liked this plugin. I will try out your suggested plugins.

    Thanks for sharing nice post.

    1. Tom Ewer

      Author

      No problem at all πŸ™‚

  9. Evan Dechtman

    What do you reccomend for a backup solution?

    1. Tom Ewer

      Author

      Honestly? ManageWP – but then you’d expect me to say that, right πŸ™‚

      Seriously though, regardless of the work I do for ManageWP, I am a ManageWP user and rely entirely upon their backup system. It works great for me.

    2. Mixed Media Marketing

      If you’re looking for an alternative to manage WP I would highly recommend BackupBuddy. I still use it with all of my sites even though I also use ManageWP.

      1. Tom Ewer

        Author

        It’s not an alternative for ManageWP though is it – it’s an alternative for one tiny part of ManageWP’s functionality πŸ™‚

  10. Dragan

    Nice roundup Tom,

    I was looking for a plugin that would do a nice job interlinking posts and I think “Terms Descriptions” might do the trick.

    By the way, when do you plan on doing another “top 10 wp plugins of the month” post?

    1. Tom Ewer

      Author

      They’re done every month Dragan πŸ™‚ just click “Best WordPress Plugins & Themes” in the sidebar.

      1. Dragan

        Wow, do I feel stupid not seeing that before πŸ™‚ Thanks so much.

        1. Tom Ewer

          Author

          No problem πŸ™‚

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Over 65,000 WordPress professionals are already using ManageWP

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Over 65,000 WordPress professionals are already using ManageWP

Add as many websites as you want for free, no credit card required. Sign up and start saving time!



Have questions? Get in touch!

Over 65,000 WordPress professionals are already using ManageWP

Add as many websites as you want for free, no credit card required. Sign up and start saving time!



Have questions? Get in touch!

Over 65,000 WordPress professionals are already using ManageWP

Add as many websites as you want for free, no credit card required. Sign up and start saving time!



Have questions? Get in touch!