So Many Plug-ins … So Little Time!

This page of links was a 5 minute IGNITE presentation (20 slides/15 seconds each) at the September 9, 2011 Seattle WordPress Meetup.

Administration Tools

Maintenance Mode: I always use a sub-domain of my business to develop new sites and use one of the above tools to migrate.
However, if that’s not an option for you and you need to develop on your live domain be sure to this plugin.
Redirection: If coming from a traditional html site you’ll want to use this plugin to assign every html page to your comparable WP page
Bonus link:
- Theme Tester: Test a new theme while showing the old theme to visitors

WP Status Dashboard: Helpful for keeping track of many client sites. This plugin keeps the dashboard informed on the status of all your websites. This includes indexing status, WordPress version and active plugin updates. NOTE: This plug-in is currently not available for download. The developer will still sell it to those who would like it (without support) for $20. Email justin@scheetzdesigns.com
Meanwhile, I’ve discovered the new tool that does significantly more called ManageWP. This plug-in is in beta. They plan for it to remain free for up to 5 sites and thereafter the fee will be minimal (currently projecting to charge ten cents per site per month).
Bonus link:
- Outbound Links: So you don’t have to teach your clients to always set the target. This does it for you automatically.
- White Label to customize the Dashboard for clients

S2Member (free)
Wishlist (easier to use)
DAP (more powerful)
Bonus links:
- Membership plugin review compares WPMU Dev with Wishlist & MemberWing and goes on to list all the other options
- Another Membership plugin review with comparison chart for Wishlist, DAP, YourMembers & MemberWing

Co-Authors Plus
Dynamic Headers
FAQ-Tastic paired with AJAXify FAQ-Tastic
Page Peel
Bonus link:
- Better Protected Pages
- Free assortment of jquery mega menus, tabs, accordions, etc
- J Shortcodes: Allows you to add custom buttons, content boxes, tabs and accordion panels, build call to action and information boxes. You can choose color, size and shape for any of these elements.

Downside?

Fee is set based on number of sites, usually the lowest is for 1-3 sites and the highest for unlimited sites
Fee is typically for one year. They’ll continue to work thereafter but if you want updates and/or support you will have to pay a reduced renewal fee annually.

Then why pay?