Best WordPress Plugins

Many of the most successful opinion and news blogs utilize many voices to create interest in their content. Jezebel, Mashable, TechCrunch, and LifeHacker are some of the most visited blog-based websites out there, and all of them have multiple authors creating content daily.

So say you want to start up a multi-author blog – great! But working remotely on a team can be difficult, particularly if you’re the manager of a team of writers. There are several plugins that have been developed to aid you in managing and publishing with multiple blog authors. From advertising shares to individual statistics, you have everything you need to build a massive, source-worthy blog with just a few additional plugins.

Author Advertising
This is a fantastic plugin for those who are looking to monetize their blog individually, on a per-author basis. It allows each other to have their own affiliate advertising, and even has the option to place weighted percentages on each of the ads used, allowing an editor/advertising manager to have a different percentage from the rest of the authors, if desired, as well as how the rate at which different authors’ ads are shown. This is a very functional plugin, and great for multi-author blogs.

Blog Metrics
A plugin created in honor of a well-written blog post, Blog Metrics displays the specs of your blog, including number of posts per author, average words per post, average comment length, etc. The reports are very easy to understand, you can get everything you need to know at a glance from the WordPress dashboard.

Future Calendar
Future Calendar adds a tiny, two calendar to your Edit Post page, directly above the Publish menu, highlighting the days on which you have posts scheduled to pubish. This keeps your authors from double-posting on a day where other content is already scheduled, as well as see days that need content.

Dashboard Notepad
This is a text box that sits on your dashboard’s home page, and allows all users to write a note, and save it for the rest of the users to see. This is helpful if you will be doing site maintenance and need to alert your staff. It’s also good for quick editorial calendars, and general announcements.

Post Avatar
If your multi-author blog takes advantage of the different individual voices of their authors, as opposed to requiring that each abide by a set standard of tone, it adds diversity and interest to your already valuable content. Post author lets your authors stand on their own by adding an avatar to the start of their respective posts. Appearing as drop down menu in the Edit Post page, authors have to select their specific post avatar each time they post, but that’s not so bad. The image can be any size, and, with a little effort and coding know-how, can change the location of the avatar, as well.

Audit Trail
This is particularly useful if you’re a micro-manager, or if you just want to know that your team is working. Audit Trail gives you access to a constantly updated list of every action that’s taken place in the WordPress dashboard from a user logging in to a post being published. It lets you see faulty logins (helpful in a case of attempted hacking),

Role Manager
If you’re managing several different authors, there’s a chance that you’ll want to grant a higher level of access to those who are more experienced. This plugin tears apart the WP roles infrastructure and allows you to pick and choose exactly which users have access to the different functions of WordPress.

Author Comment
With so many authors, your typical comment highlighting plugin may be a little difficult to customize for multiple authors. Also, if your authors comment on each other’s posts, it may be confusing to your readers who are trying to engage in conversation. Author Comment allows only the author of that specific post to have highlighted comments, making it simple for readers to recognize who to address or respond to. Fostering interaction is essential to blog success.

WordPress Admin Notepad
Admin Notepad is somewhat similar to the aforementioned Headache With Pictures, but instead of having a permanent home on the main Dashboard, it is accessible from any part of the Dashboard by clicking a link in the upper right hand corner of the screen. I have used this plugin to give my authors post ideas, tips, and feedback as it can be viewed while writing a post. You have full control over who is able to edit and view the notes.

Pre-Publish Reminder
This plugin was extremely handy when I had multiple guest contributors who weren’t as familiar with WordPress, or blogging, and needed those extra reminders to add links where they can, format correctly, and add tags to their posts. This plugin adds mobile check-box to the Edit Post page with whatever text you designate. I suggest moving the box directly below the main text box, so your authors are sure to see it.