[fitkoh]

I honestly would not be mad about putting together an image optimization tutorial with you. I could do part one about making web optimized images and how to brand your Wordpress site and you could do part two which talks about the backend optimization and SEO tools as I don't have as much knowledge as I'd like too about the subject. I am always for collaborations!

I also will look into Google and see what's up and do you have any SEO plugins for Wordpress that you recommend?

While I'm always for a collaboration if it benefits all parties involved, I don't know if I would be the best fit. I'm certainly not the best at understanding how wordpress works or how to improve it. My niche has always been in creative problem solving and thinking outside the box. So while I can usually make things work in some fashion, or devise a workaround that approximates the result I'm looking for, I really don't think I'm qualified to make any statements about what's best. Especially given how wordpress has grown in recent years, the way it should be set up on the back end depends a lot on what kind of site one plans on developing.

At my experience level, I'm not comfortable making a recommendation regarding wordrpress set up. I am, however, more than happy to share what I've done and why. Use this information at your own risk    use:

All In One SEO Pack. Yoast is more popular nowadays. I can't say for sure if one is better than the other or why. All In One's been  around a long time, and it's still updated. I say, if it isn't broke, don't fix it.

Asgaros Forum - because I like it better than WP Foro. I really just like the way it looks, and it's easy to modify just about every part of the forum styling.

Autoptimize - got my a few points of pagespeed ranking on google. But it doesn't work the way it's supposed to. The images are still an issue I'll probably solve on my own. I wouldn't mind replacing this one if I can find one that works better.

Cryout Serious Slider - requested by my theme (Verdant)

Download Manager - because I occasionally like to share files with the general public

Revive Old Posts - an autoblogging tool that posts to facebook. A serious pain to set up, but very convenient if you have  FB page for your site.

WP Custom Admin Interface - so my backend matches my frontend (or close to it)

WP Fastest Cache - I don't know if it's the fastest, but it's very simple to set up and run.

WP Mail to SMTP  - Gives me a better chance of mail getting through. Requires some annoying set up.

WP to Twitter - like Revive Old Posts, but for twitter not FB

WP Forms - Because forms are sometimes necessary.

I've been using All In One Security and Firewall, which I thought was the bees knees up until a couple days ago. It has lots of great features and is probably really great for site security, but I managed to lock myself out of wordpress because of recaptcha issues so I've got that one offline and am currently exploring other options.

When choosing a plugin, what I usually prefer (if I can find it)

No api/registration/account information required to make the plugin work
Simple set up
Doesn't break anything.