This is a bit of a departure, add-on, or supplement to my current series on blogging. Jetpack is a plug-in offered by the wordpress people. It is really a combination of several powerful plugins in one.
What is a plugin?
A plug-in is a add on piece of software that works with WordPress to extend its functionality. There are plug-ins to do the following:
- Make adding and embedding audio, video, or images into your blog simpler.
- Add forms to your blog.
- Help you with SEO by adding metadata
- Shopping cart plug-ins
- Create website pop-ups – for newsletter signups or special notices
- And many others
In fact, the slider image on the KreativeKnowledge home page (as of this writing) is a plug-in.
Jetpack adds features to your site that once required you to add and manage several plug-ins. The jetpack features I use are:
- Statistics: see where visitors are coming from, search terms, and what they click on
- Sharing buttons (like at the bottom of this post)
- Embed short-codes for YouTube videos and other sites: instead of adding all the youtube embed code, you only need to add the short-code “”
- Email Blog Subscriptions
- URL Shortened Links (converts URL to a shortened URL for twitter and other services)
Here is a short tutorial showcasing some of those features.
