Posts Tagged ‘there’s a plugin for that’

WordPress Book Plugins for Book Bloggers

May 9 |08:00

With a ton of book bloggers transitioning to WordPress (yay!), I thought a post about the best book plugins would be timely and helpful. I’ve been on WordPress since the start of my blog (March 2011-ish), and I think this platform is 1. SEO-friendly, 2. easy to use and 3. robust and sustainable.

there's a plugin for that read breathe relax feature

There’s a Plugin for That is an original Read.Breathe.Relax feature that highlights different WordPress plugin’s that are useful for book bloggers. Pros and cons are listed as well as insider tips.


Book Plugins for WordPress

Book-Related Plugins:

  • OpenBook Book Data- This plugin allows you to display a book’s cover, title, author and related links using a customizable template. It seems like a fancy way of doing what we already do. This plugin just helps for things to look consistent throughout posts.

  • Bookturner- Bookturner pulls in your information from Goodreads to create a fun sidebar widget. Although Goodreads offers their own widget, this plugin allows you to customize the number of books displayed, sort the list by author, title (etc.) and set how often the widget is updated.

  • Now Reading Reloaded- Display what books your currently reading using this plugin to create a sidebar widget. The cover art is pulled automatically from Amazon.

  • WordPress Amazon Associate- Put your Amazon Affiliate account to good use and use the widgets offered in this plugin to help monetize your blog.

  • My Library- This is another version of the Currently Reading plugin, but My Library enables you to display a number of books with your rating AND an Amazon Affiliate link. The best of both worlds.

Plugins for WordPress Beginners:

I love ProBlogger’s tips and tricks, and his post on this topic is extensive. I shared my five favorites from his list below.

  • WPTouch- This is a mobile site plugin that I’ve talked about before, and it’s really, really important. So many people surf the internet on their phones, so making your blog mobile-accessible is key. This plugin is easy to install and creates a mobile site for your blog in minutes!

  • Editorial Calendar- This plugin allows users to schedule posts in the future and shows them a visual representation of their posts in a calendar display. You can see if your week is full or if you’re missing a post. It’s perfect for book bloggers who schedule reviews far in advance.

  • Blogging Checklist- Create a checklist for yourself of all the needed steps you need to take before you click “Publish.” This is especially great if you blog with multiple authors, and you all need to be on the same page about your posts.

  • Social Sharing Toolkit- Offer your readers a chance to share your content directly from the post. Buttons will appear on your posts for the social media channels you select.

  • SEO Auto Linker- If there’s one thing I think book bloggers could do A LOT better is internal linking. This plugin automatically finds key words or phrases to link to within a blog post. A-mazing!

What WordPress book plugins do you use that make blogging easier?

 
Leave a comment (3 Comments)


There’s a Plugin for That – WordPress Editorial Calendar Plugin

Jan 27 |09:07

For all your organizational freaks out there, the WordPress Editorial Calendar plugin is perfect for scheduling posts in the future and making sure your upcoming week or months is filled up.

“There’s a Plugin for That” is a new, original blog feature on Read.Breathe.Relax. It will feature different plugin’s that are useful for book bloggers (who use WordPress) and the pros and cons.

WordPress Editorial Calendar Plugin

calendar plugin editorial calendar wordpress

Above is a screen shot of the editorial calendar plugin. It’s basically a scroll-able monthly calendar that you can drag and drop drafted posts into specific days. Or if you have already scheduled a bunch of posts, you can see them displayed on the calendar all nice and pretty.

How I use the calendar is to 1. Plan ahead and visually see what’s coming up, which really helps me get a handle on what’s coming up and 2. While viewing the calendar, you can hover over posts and create drafts or edit posts that are scheduled already. SO NICE!

Other features of the calendar plugin are:

  • See all of your posts and when they’ll be posted.
  • Drag and drop to change your post dates.
  • Quickedit post titles, contents, and times.
  • Publish posts or manage drafts.
  • Easily see the status of your posts.
  • Manage posts from multiple authors.

Download the Editorial Calendar Plugin

To try out the calendar plugin for yourself, just follow these easy steps:

  • Login in to WordPress. Click the Plugins menu on the left sidebar
  • Click “Add New” at the top of the page
  • Search for “editorial-calendar”
  • Find the matching plugin (it should be the first result in the list)
  • Click “Install Now”
  • Next click “Activate Plugin”
  • The plugin has been successfully installed. To change any of the settings, go to the “Settings” section on the left-hand sidebar and click “editorial-plugin”

Besides this calendar plugin, what WordPress plugins help you stay organized?

 
Leave a comment (2 Comments)


There’s a Plugin for That: Mobile Site Plugin

Dec 26 |14:12

As many of you know, people are accessing the Web on the go more and more - that’s why I think you should install a mobile site plugin on your blog.

To back up a bit, “There’s a Plugin for That” is a new, original blog feature on Read.Breathe.Relax. I’ll talk about the different plugin’s available for book bloggers who use WordPress and include step-by-step instructions of how to install them.

I don’t mean to leave out those of you who use Blogger, but WordPress offers tons of features that I’m familiar with because I use that platform. If you have any questions about using WordPress, please feel free to leave a question for me in the comments or email me here: lisa [at] readbreatherelax [dot] com.

Mobile Site Plugin – Whys and Hows

Back to mobile site plugins…


The Whys

Like I mentioned earlier, people who have smartphones, iPads (jealous!) and Kindle Fires (even more jealous) are using the Web and hopefully visiting your blog. Make visiting your blog an easier experience = faster loading + easy navigation.

That’s were a mobile site comes in. For those of you who don’t know what a mobile site is, by the way, it is a “website optimized for viewing in a mobile browser.” You may be thinking, “Well, great – do I need to know how to code or something else equally as complicated??”

No, no you don’t. WordPress has made your life easier by offering tons of plugins that, once installed, make your blog mobile-ready with a few clicks.

The Hows

The mobile site plugin I use on my blog is WPTouch . It had a ton of great reviews and an overall rating of 4 stars (out of five). You can view that information here.

Here’s a Step-By-Step Guide to Install the Plugin:

  1. Login in to WordPress. Click the Plugins menu on the left sidebar
  2. Click “Add New” at the top of the page
  3. Search for “WPTouch”
  4. Find the matching plugin (it should be the first result in the list)
  5. Click “Install Now”
  6. Next click “Activate Plugin”
  7. The plugin has been successfully installed. To change any of the settings, go to the “Settings” section on the left-hand sidebar and click “WPTouch”
  8. For additional settings, go to “Reading” under “Settings” to adjust the number of posts shown on your mobile site

If you have any troubles with the plugin (like it breaking your site), simply go back to the “Plugins” setting on the left sidebar, scroll down till you see “WPTouch” and click “Deactivate.” …I’ve had to do that many-a-time. :)

If you have any questions, please let me know. I hope none of you have any trouble installing the mobile site plugin and that it works great for you!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
 
Leave a comment (1 Comment)


Connect

Subscribe by Email

Get book reviews, features, and more!

SUBSCRIBE NOW



Follow Me on Pinterest

Original Features

Click the image to read the features in that category.







Like RBR on Facebook

Archives

Categories