In October and November I participated in two Blog Challenges. Both challenges consisted of blogging daily, sharing the blog post in a Facebook group and reading and commenting on at least 2 other blogs per day.
I joined the challenges as a way to increase my SEO and develop content. I was amazed with the results – my Alexa rating improved by over 5.3 million ranking globally and over 50 thousand in Canada. Today my website www.igniteyourmarket.com is ranked at 567,861 Globally and 9,842 in Canada and it is getting better daily.
What I hadn’t anticipated was the vast amount of knowledge I’d gain from fellow members of the challenges. I’m still processing much of it and I will be sharing as I implement the best suggestions.
Today I want to share my 3 favourite plugins that I’ve implement in my blog:
- Starbox
- Shareaholic
- Commentluv
StarBox – This plugin enable the ability to include an author box at the end of each post and/or page.
Benefits of StarBox:
- It is extremely easy to install and is integrated into WordPress “User” tab.
- If a reader lands on your page through a blog post link they see your profile without having to navigate around your site.
- It reminds readers of who you are and what you do.
- Your social media links appear in the author box and displays the author’s last 3 posts.
- You can have author boxes setup for guest authors/bloggers
Shareaholic – Enables simple social media sharing at the end of each post and/or page.
Benefits of Shareaholic:
- Easy to install
- You can configure different looks and select different social media types to include
- One click for users to share your post on social media.
- Keeps a record on the number of shares
CommentLuv – Enables back links from the readers post to their latest blog.
The image above is the view of CommentLuv when posting on the blog. The image below is the resulting back link.
This is of huge value to your readers. If they comment on your blog they can select to have a link back to their latest blog post. This is very popular and I know people who will not comment on a blog that doesn’t use some sort of back link tracking. Why? The number of Back Links directly affects your SEO and Website rating. I have seen the power of it with the amazing results I’ve had in only 60 days.
Benefits of CommentLuv:
- Easy to install
- Attracts comments
- Increases your SEO
All 3 of these plugins are active on this page and can be found by searching for them from the Plugin Tab of your WordPress Dashboard.
Do you use these plugins? What other great plugins do you love? Please share below?
I love to see entrepreneurs follow their passions, serve more people and create the lifestyle of their dreams.
- When Life (or business) Give You Lemons 🍋 Made Lemonade - November 15, 2022
- The Power of Great Questions! - August 9, 2021
- Get Sh!t Done – The Power of Accountability! - August 4, 2021
We are glad to hear that you consider StarBox is a must try AuthorBox plugin. – Squirrly Team
Hey Heather!
Congrats on your Alexa ranking! Those are some awesome stats! I’ve never heard of Starbox, but I will check it out. Thanks for the recommendation!
Thanks Nate – It has been exciting watch Alexa ranking approve. I really like Starbox, so easy to use and I like the look.
Love this type of info – I didn’t have the Starbox and just added it, even tho I’ve been blogging for years – so thank you 🙂
Great Donna, glad I could provide something new. It is a great addition to a blog. Enjoy it.
Hi Heather,
Thanks for the information here I have used shareaholic and commentluv although lately I have been having issues with my commentluv that I need to figure out. Starbox is something I have not used, perhaps I can take a look at it and consider implementing it on my blog. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Jason – Starbox is a great plug in as it lets people learn about the author of the blog when they land not the site. Very easy to install and use.
Thanks for all this fantastic info, Heather! I LOVE these kinds of posts 🙂
Kristen – thanks for commenting, I’m glad you found it helpful there are all great add-ons for your blog. By the way the pie looks great!
Hi Heather,
Great info you shared. Through challenges I learned of 2 of these great tools also. As to Starbox, I am already using WP Biographia, which does the same. Except I have never seen a provision for a guest blogger so Starbox sounds better.
Rochelle – I tried a few different author box and ended up on Starbox. The integration to the user makes it really easy to use and gives you some flexibility. I also like the social media icons and links to your last 3 blogs.
Great post! I am still a new blogger and I am trying to learn and grow to pick up traction and also tips and tricks to make blogging a little easier! Thank you!!
Ellen – Being new blogging can be fun and a bit scary as well. I was new not too long ago. The 3 plugin mentioned are easy to use and quickly add value to your blog.