I’ve been a fan of self-hosted wordpress since I made the switch from Blogger back in 2005. Over the past several years I’ve learned so much working with wordpress. One of the things that I have learned is that when trying to figure out how to do something, always ask yourself…

Is there a Plugin for that?

Wordpress Plugins make the world of Wordpress go ’round. So today I thought I would share some of my favorite wordpress plugins with you. Below is a list of plugins that I consistently rely on:

• Featured Content Gallery: this plugin I recently started using with my latest theme but I must I am in love. I love the idea of “headlines” and feature what I think to be really great posts. So that box you see at the top of my main page with the changing article images, that is the featured content gallery plugin and its one awesome example of the greatness of what a wordpress plugin can do.
• FD Feedburner Plugin: I recently helped a fellow blogger switch her default wordpress feed to her feedburner one so that she could keep track of how many people like to subscribe to her site. This plugin easily replaces wordpress’ default feed with a feedburner one that a user sets up. Plain, simple, but effective.
• CommentLuv: Share the luv with this plugin as it imports the title of a commenters recent blog post. A great plugin to give back to loyal commenters! Just because I luv you guys (commenters).
• FlickrRSS: I heart my flickr photostream and when I have time to add new photos I want to show it off. FlickrRSS is a great way to show off your recent flickr photostream photos via a snipplet of php coding and the FlickrRSS plugin. If you visit my main page and see the photo stream at the top, that is the workings of the FlickrRSS plugin.
• Gravatar: I’m a visual kind of a person to which I love to associate a photo with a screenname, like on twitter. Gravatar is an avatar attached to your email address that displays a photo of your choice. You set up gravatar and then anywhere someone comments with the gravatar plugin installed your photo shows up.
• Lijit Search: I recently told you guys in post about my favorite tools for bloggers that I love lijit search because it helps me with my writing. Well guess what, there is a plugin for that, which is all the more reason why I love it so much. Great application + wordpress plugin = a happy Diva!
• Twitter Tools: Twitter & the Diva are like two peas in a pod. Its how I keep my website updated with the latest happenings of my life, how I keep my twitter followers informed of new blog posts on my blog, and how I enjoy everyday conversations with people that share the same interests as me. Twitter Tools helps me combine my two loves together, blogging & tweeting.
• WPViddler: if you are a longtime reader, you’ll know that I love making vlogs because it shows a different side of me, the blogger. My all time favorite host for my vlogs is viddler because of the close family feel I get when I participate over there versus the swimming in a big sea feeling I get over at YouTube. One thing that Viddler lacks that YouTube doesn’t is iPhone compatibility so if you view my site via an iPhone you can view my YouTube videos but not my Viddler ones so that is why I prefer to post YouTube videos in my blog posts and use viddler for video comments and tv channel at the bottom of the page.
• WPSticky: sometimes I have blog posts that need to stay at the top of the blog for a while like when I’m running a giveaway or something to allow all of my readers the opportunity to know about it, that is when WPSticky plugin comes in handy. It makes a blog post “sticky” and remain at the top of the blog while you continue to blog regularly.

What is your favorite Wordpress Plugin?

Disclosure: I am not a blogging expert. This is just a list of some of the plugins that I enjoy using on my own blog.