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Speed up your blogging and podcasting workflow with these five great WordPress plugins. They'll reduce your steps, optimize your site, and save lots of time.
1. Resize Images Before Upload
Digital cameras, smartphones, and images you get from the Internet (I hope legally) can easily be too big for practical use online. WordPress has a built-in tool to resize images to small (thumbnail), medium, and large images (some WordThemes or plugins will add more sizes). But WordPress still keeps the full-size file as you upload it.
When your images are big, they can hog space on your server, bloat backups, and cause problems if you ever want to embed or link to a larger version of your image.
Resize Images Before Upload does just what it is titled. Using HTML5 browsers, this will resize an image inside your desktop browser before the image even goes into the WordPress media library.
No more need for image-editors, apps, or third-party websites to resize the image for you. Now you can drag nearly any image size into WordPress and it will automatically resize it according to the “large” dimensions under Settings > Media.
Or paste and adjust the following code into your WordPress's wp-config.php file.
define( 'RIBU_RESIZE_WIDTH', 1000 ); //1000 px wide define( 'RIBU_RESIZE_HEIGHT', 900 ); //900 px high
UPDATE: The plugin developers have added the resize width and height options to Settings > Media with version 1.8, so you no longer have to update your wp-config.php file!
Also consider adding WP Smush.it to further optimize your new images as well as images you already uploaded.
2. Grab & Save
When you find an image on the web that you're allowed to use, you have two choices for using that image in your post.
- Insert the image from URL. This will link to the image as hosted somewhere else. These links can easily break and you will only use the image at the size you're linking to.
- Download and re-upload the image. This will make WordPress process the image so you get the different sizes and the image will be hosted by your website. But this involves a lot more steps.
Grab & Save will accept an image URL, allow you to rename the file (wonderful for SEO), and then it downloads and processes the image right into WordPress's media library, saving you several steps!
3. Shortcode Exec PHP
This may sound like an intimidating plugin name, but it's actually simple.
Instead of pasting the same closing text, or bit of code with every single post, you can create a shortcode (formatted like “[ shortcode_name ]” without the spaces or quotation marks).
Shortcode Exec PHP creates these abbreviations for any length if HTML or PHP.
I use a shortcode for the end of all my podcast shownotes—everything that you see in every single post.
4. Simple Post Template
If your shownotes always follow the same pattern (such as sponsorship, news, main topic, feedback, closing) and you copy and paste text from old posts in order to replicate this pattern, then you need a template!
Simple Post Template allows you to create separate and selectable templates for your content. The templates can include title, excerpt, and content in HTML or auto-generate text into your content with PHP.
This is a new plugin for me and I'm thrilled to find it. I was previously copying text from old posts, but no more!
5. Pretty Link Pro
Whenever you hear me speak a simple URL with my domain, even my shownotes URLs, it's using Pretty Link Pro.
You can get Pretty Link Lite for free, but the Pro version contains two massively useful, time-saving tools (among many others).
- Create pretty links for pages and posts without leaving the editor.
- Automatically hyperlink keywords, like BlueHost.
Upcoming Pinterest for podcasters with Cynthia Sanchez
If you're heard of Pinterest, then I hope you've heard from Oh So Pinteresting, hosted by Cynthia Sanchez. Cynthia is the go-to person for all things Pinterest, and I'll be honored to have her as a guest for The Audacity to Podcast episode 136.
- How podcasters can use Pinterest to promote their podcast
- How Pinterest can be a resource and inspiration for podcasters
- Ideas for how podcasters can contribute quality content and build a following on Pinterest (not necessarily just to promote their podcast)
Send your questions for Cynthia by July 22, 2013.
(By the way, the following is inserted from Shortcode Exec PHP.)
Need personalized podcasting help?
I no longer offer one-on-one consulting outside of Podcasters' Society, but request a consultant here and I'll connect you with someone I trust to help you launch or improve your podcast.
Ask your questions or share your feedback
- Comment on the shownotes
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Disclosure
This post may contain links to products or services with which I have an affiliate relationship and may receive compensation from your actions through such links. However, I don't let that corrupt my perspective and I don't recommend only affiliates.
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Great episode Daniel. I am only three months into WordPress and gearing up ready for my podcast to start in October. I have listened to you for a few months and get a lot out of your podcast. This one is REALLY helpful, especially to be able to see the video showing how you use these plugins. I can see using three of them almost immediately. Can we have another 5 plugins soon please? regards Paul Wilson, London, England
Any suggestions for what kind of plugins? I like to present focused and connected content. For example, these five plugins focus on things that dramatically speed up or reduce the blogging and podcasting workflow. Each plugin meets that need in a different way without overlap.
I never knew about the Simple Post Template Plug-In. Just started using it after reading your post, Daniel. I can see it’s now going to be an indispensable part of my workflow. Rick
Great! I love that one, too. I didn’t know about it until I did my research for this episode.
[…] listeners to remember the short link when it’s being mentioned during a podcast and my friend Daniel J. Lewis from The Audacity to Podcast is a real pro when it comes to doing […]
Daniel, I added the Simple Post Template plugin, but I don’t see Simple Post Template as a choice on the left sidebar like your video shows.
That’s really strange. Please forgive me for asking these basic questions, but they’re all I can think of.
1. Are you running the latest WordPress?
2. Did you activate the plugin after you installed it?
3. Are you looking all the way down (it’s near the bottom on my WP)?