13 WordPress Plugins That’ll Save You a Ton of Time

Sarah Peterson 75 Comments Last Updated Jun 9, 2017

Running a blog requires an insane amount of time.

In fact, there’s not enough time in your day to do everything (especially if you have a full-time job, too).

From learning new ways to get traffic and scheduling social media posts to building your email list and managing comments, you feel stretched to your limit.

And the more you learn and grow, the more you have to keep up with — it’s exhausting.

So what if I told you that you can add a squad of tools to your toolbox that will eliminate a ton of time spent on the more tedious aspects of blogging?

These 13 WordPress plugins are like having a full-time employee that shaves hours off of your blogging work week, so you can get back to doing the important things: writing and connecting with your audience.
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Beginners/ Mistakes/ WordPress

7 Warning Signs Your Free WordPress Theme is Sabotaging Your Blog

Mary Fernandez 80 Comments Last Updated Mar 17, 2016

You know exactly how it happened.

When you set up your blog, you installed a free WordPress theme and told yourself it was “just until you have a few readers.”

You had every intention of upgrading to a premium theme down the line.

But months or even years later, you’re still cruising along on a freebie theme.

Of course, upgrading it is still on your to-do list, but you have so many other things to do.

So it never gets done.

Even though you may not realize it, your free theme could be costing you big time.

But how can you find out for sure?

Read on…
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Beginners/ Resources/ WordPress

Is Your WordPress Blog Slower Than You Think? (And How to Fix It)

Devesh Sharma 53 Comments Last Updated Apr 12, 2016

Infuriating, isn’t it?

When a site loads so slowly you want to throw your computer out of the window.

Entire seconds pass before anything at all appears in your browser, and you start to wonder if the site even exists!

When it does respond, watching the site appear piece by piece is like a form of torture.

And by the time it finally loads, you’re so frustrated with the whole experience that you’re half-tempted to click away without reading any of the content.

After all, what self-respecting blogger would allow his or her blog to perform like this?

But before you climb on your high horse, ask yourself this question:

What if this is exactly how other people feel about your blog?

That’s right, your blog.

You’d feel mortified, right? The owner of the slowest blog on the block.

But better to find out sooner rather than later so you can fix it if necessary.

Let’s find out how . . .
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Resources/ Tools/ WordPress

Warning: Ignoring These 7 WordPress Plugins Could Seriously Damage Your Blog

Adam Connell 132 Comments Last Updated Apr 13, 2016

No doubt you’ve seen them.

The eye-catching posts that promise to reveal the 5, or 10 or even 57 WordPress plugins you absolutely must use on your blog.

You click the headlines and scroll through the posts, your jaw hanging open at the seemingly endless opportunities to transform your blog.

And inevitably, you find yourself installing every single one.

But soon after, you realize that most of these plugins don’t live up to the hype.

In other words, you’ve wasted your time.

Worse still, your site has become noticeably slower. Your newly sluggish dashboard means tasks that used to take a few seconds now take a full minute. And your readers are getting a poor experience too.

It’s a common situation – “shiny object syndrome” is difficult to avoid.

But you must need some plugins installed on your blog, right?

So the question remains:

Which ones do you really need?

And wouldn’t it be great if someone could just tell you exactly what they are?
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Comments/ Tools/ WordPress

4 Ways to Slash Comment Spam (Before It Kills Your Blog)

Beth Hayden 87 Comments Last Updated Apr 13, 2016

It’s a Monday morning, and you’re sitting down with your first cup of coffee.

You open up your blog, and you’re excited to see that someone commented on your latest post.

“Fantastic!” you think. “I’m finally starting to get some traction with my site!”

Then you look closer, and you slam your coffee mug down in disgust.

The comment isn’t from an excited, engaged reader who enjoys your writing and wants to join the discussion on your site.

It’s from a spammer.

Yuck.

Comment spam is an annoying, disappointing part of life online.

As your blog grows, comment spam becomes a daily hassle. Dealing with it is a lot like playing an endless, wildly irritating game of Whack-a-Mole. The game never ends, you waste a ton of time, and no one ever wins.

Perhaps it’s time you got yourself a better hammer.
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