Have you ever spent any time weeding through WordPress plugins and the sea of endless options. On the one hand it’s pretty cool that there is so much out there for you to play with or to use to help optimize your wordpress blog, but on the other hand there is way too much out there for you to play with or use….you get my point.

Here are 2 more plugins that I think are must haves for any professional WordPress blog:

1. Google .XML sitemaps: I am a huge fan of .XML sitemaps and here’s why…it not only allows you list every page of your site, including those hard to find, but it also automatically updates and resubmits your sitemap every single time there is a new blog post. I highly recommend this wether it be for your blog or your website. And if you use this plugin in conjunction with the Google Webmaster Tools, you have got a head start.

2. Zemanata: Cleverly tagged “blog smarter”…and smart it is. This plugin intuitively gives you suggestions for images and relevant/related links based on your blog topic and content (this is how I recently used it in conjunction with a post about keeping your readers coming back for more). Zemanta also gives you the ability to easily re-blog content. You’ve probably seen the little “reblog” icon on some blogs. This unique feature allows you to literally “reblog” parts of a post that you really like (of course giving full credit to the original author) and thus share that information with your readers…How cool is that?

Check these out when you get a chance. What plugins do you recommend? Have you used any of these yet? Let me know what you think.

So you have a WordPress blog and are wondering how you get found? Well one excellent way is to share what you’ve got…spread the word. That is pretty much the gist of social media, allowing you to share your content with an online community.

Here are a two things you must have for your WordPress blog:

1. All in one SEO pack: If you could bottle SEO and offer all that and a bag of chips, well here you go. Ok, so it’s not everything I’d do for SEO, but it’s a great start for excellent on-page SEO. It offers you a custom Title tag, description and keywords (doesn’t hurt to fill add them), as well as the option to customize your post or page URL (tres important).

2. Sociable: This is what I was talking about when I said that you need to share your content. Sociable gives you the option to customize which networks or bookmarking sites you want to display…but why not offer all of the major ones. It seriously takes only a few minutes of your times to share your post each time you post a new one. And bam you’ve just opened the door to a whole new world. Now your content is there where your readers are, and hopefully they will share it, comment on it etc. But remember this, about 1 in 20 posts will go “hot”, meaning that they will be shared by a larger group, spreading your word even further.

WordPress has made it so simple with it’s latest version to install plugins, really there is no excuse. Give these a try if you aren’t using them yet. And if you aren’t using WordPress, check if your blog platform offers similar features, and if not take your information to those social networking sites and share it, share it, share it.

Actually before you can even get to the point of “getting things done” you need to get started…while it took me awhile to get my own blog started, I have been working with blogs, custom designing etc. for several years now. WordPress is my blog (platform) of choice. I have made and continue to make custom themes (designs) for others through WordPress. It’s easy to get started, set up, and either host on WordPress directly or through another source. Personally I prefer Bluehost because of their seamless integration and quick setup.

So once you have all of this figured out, it’s important to have an idea of what you are going to be blogging about. You don’t just want to launch with an empty blog and no direction. While I am a big proponent of – learn on the job – kind of mentality when it comes to blogging, it’s still important to have some sort of theme, just as you did with your design.

First you need to decide what you are using your blog for…is it for you personally to share your thoughts and experiences, or are you using it to blog about business related stuff. The two are in fact quite different and will as a result draw different audiences. The choice is ultimately your depending on what your goals are.

I recommend you sort through the following; (1) establish clear, definitive goals and determine what desired actions convert visitors into leads (Do you plan on using your blog to capture leads? etc.), (2) make sure to keep the HTML coding clean (if you are not familiar with these practices I advise that you consult a professional, (3) don’t forget your users and site usability, (4) remember that a blog redesign is a project and should be managed as such, (5) set up a realistic schedule and manage expectations (Rome wasn’t built in a day, and your WordPress blog won’t be either).

Good luck on your start. The hardest part is really getting started…well really it’s not even that hard. Just do it, and you’ll see how easy it is to get things done.