Popular Posts Plugin

4 Comments

Wordpress popular postsI started a discussion on the best WordPress plugins a little while ago, and I want to throw out one of my favorites.

WordPress Popular Posts allows me to add a customized section to my sidebar, listing the six most popular posts. Currently I have it set to display the most popular posts over the past 30 days. This gives me an idea of what people are visiting most often.

Take a look at the plugin on the right side of the page. It may look very different from the picture here since it changes dynamically throughout the day.

Of the six listed here, four of them are well over one month old. My analytics confirm my hunch that people are bookmarking, sharing, and organically searching and finding those posts.

What are the most popular posts on your site?

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Posted on February 7, 2012

  • http://bluecapra.com/ Alan Reeves

    Thanks for the plugin suggestion Justin.  I have a similar plugin installed, Most Popular Posts, that does basically the same thing.  It does not have the option to show the most popular in the last 30 days like WordPress Popular Posts.  For my site (without very much traffic) it does not matter much, but I can see how the 30 day cycle would be helpful.  Most Popular Posts goes by comments but I really like the flexibility of your suggestion and will be switching

    Which brings me to a question, how do you decide on a plugin to use?  Is it mostly recommendations by friends and people you know? 

    My most popular post is a toss-up between Hiking and Armadillo classifications and my weekly Picture a day posts from Dec 18, 2011.

  • http://coachradio.tv/ Justin Lukasavige

    Many times I’ll use a plugin on the recommendation of someone I know. In this case however, I tried a few before finding this one.

  • http://www.jmlalonde.com Joe Lalonde

    Justin, I use the same plugin and love it.

    Currently, my top three posts are –

    The 20 Mile March – http://www.jmlalonde.com/the-20-mile-march/
    A post that was inspired by Jim Collins at Catalyst Atlanta

    The Power of Goals – http://www.jmlalonde.com/the-power-of-goals/
    Shortly before the new year, I wrote why goals are important and it has resonated with my tribe.

    and

    Dude Things Are Not Okay – http://www.jmlalonde.com/dude-things-are-not-okay/
    Deals with the importance of having a band of brothers.

    These posts are all from late December/early January. They’re not old but, then again, the blog is only 4 months old.

    I’ve enabled the plugin to show the amount of comments a post has received and it is amazing to see the interaction. My top 5 posts are all above 20 comments and 4 out of the 5 are 29+ comments.

    I love being able to see this information in the sidebar and seeing what works and what doesn’t.

  • http://coachradio.tv/ Justin Lukasavige

    That’s great, Joe. Looks like you’re getting wonderful interaction.