Google Buzz is out there and spreading fast.  In the first 2 days, there were over 9 million buzzes. Participating in Google Buzz hasn’t really become much of an option for many of us – unless you turn it off (you can do this at the bottom of the Gmail page).

If nothing else, we can use Buzz to bring in more traffic to our blogs and  get the word out about our latest blog posts.  Here are 10 plugins and addons to get your WordPress blog buzzing:

Share your latest Google Buzz Feeds/Streams

Google Buzz ER
Google Buzz
Simple Buzz

Place a Buzz button in your posts

Simple Buzz Link
Google Buzz Button For WordPress
Google buzz this Button
WP Google-buzz
Buzz This
Google Buzz It
WPBuzzer

Follow Me Button

This is a picture that you can save to use on your blog (Right Click and Save As).  Edit it however you want and then upload it using either FTP or use this link to directly connect to it:  http://www.themuslimblogger.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Buzz2.png

If you want it in your sidebar, copy and paste this code into sidebar.php wherever you want it to appear.  Make sure you replace the profile link with yours.

<a href=”http://www.google.com/profiles/YOURPROFILEHERE”><img src=”http://www.themuslimblogger.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Buzz2.png” alt=”" title=”Buzz” width=”302″ height=”42″ /></a>

2 Extra Buttons

If you want to customize the Buzz It button yourself for whatever reason and just need a ready to use Buzz image, here are 2 that you are free to save and use on your own blog:

In any case, here’s a question for you – do you use Buzz and has it been helpful tool for you?

You’ve already seen tons of other themes at The Muslim Blogger (here, here, and here).  But, one of the most common requests I get is to find and publish some Islamic WordPress themes/templates.  Well….I found 5 of them and they are all free to use on any Muslim blog using WordPress.

If you know of any other Islamic themes or use any of the ones listed here, give a shout out in the comments section below with a link to your blog.

So what do you think of these themes?  What kind of Muslim blogs do you think they can be used on?  Do you feel these themes can help to give a Muslim blog an “Islamic” feel?  Share your thoughts below and let us know if you are using any of these.

Some of these plugins make changes to the design of your blog or add tools to make the experience on your blog better for readers.  Others enhance the back-end and make the writing process and SEO functions much easier to deal with.

So what are the 11 must-have plugins for your WordPress blog?

1. Akismet - This helps to prevent spam and is unbelievably good.  It comes standard with all WordPress installs but if you don’t have it for some reason or deleted it, get it now.
   
2. All in One SEO Pack – Optimize your blog for search engines to find and index you quickly
   
3. Google XML Sitemaps – Another plugin that does an amazing job in the world of SEO
   
4. TinyMCE Advanced – 15 extra tools available to you when writing a blog post
   
5. TweetMeme Button – Make it easier to get your posts retweeted
   
6. WordPress.com Popular Posts – A simple way to get a widget with your most popular posts.  You can also customize how that list is made.
   
7. WordPress.com Stats – In addition to Google Analytics, this is a quick  way to get an update on who comes to your blog and the posts they read
   
8. PollDaddy Polls & Ratings – I use PollDaddy for polls and surveys.  They have free and paid accounts but I find that the free one does more than I need at this stage.  This plugin makes PollDaddy easier to use
   
9. WPtouch iPhone Theme – Anyone visiting your blog from an iPhone, iPod Touch, Android, WebOS, BlackBerry, or Opera Mini will see a customized version.  It runs in the background without interrupting anything so there’s no reason not to use it.
   
10. Contact Form 7 – Let your readers contact you with this plugin.  It takes a few moments to set up but once its up, it works as expected
    
11. Simple Tags – Auto-generate tags and edit your posts’ tags in batches with this.  Awesome plugin.

Do you use any of these plugins on your blog?  If so, what is your experience with them?  What other plugins do you use?

Help your fellow Muslim bloggers out.  Share with us the plugins you use to make the blogging experience a better one.

Update: One of the commenters below (Ayaz) asked about plugins for social bookmarking.  Here are links to three different social bookmarking plugins: SexyBookmarks, Sociable, and Social Bookmarks.

One of the most popular posts here at TMB covers 15 free themes that you can use today. It would seem that the next logical step is to provide you with more of what you want. After all, Muslim blogs covering some of the most important topics deserve to have some of the best themes available.

Click through the link to head over to Smashing Magazine’s post that includes previews and links to download some of the best free WordPress themes – or even all 40 if you like. If you use any of these themes and want to let others know, leave a comment for others to see.

40 Free High-Quality WordPress Themes

Make sure you check out the other 15 High Quality Premium-Like Free WordPress Themes post.

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The Muslim Blogger brings to you yet another set of free wordpress themes/templates that you need to be checking out.   Please note that while the developers have published these themes for free, you are responsible to look into the copyright issues.  Usually, the only requirement is that you leave the note in the footer that gives credit to the developer(s).

One reader, Aamer, asked if he could use these themes on any WordPress.  The answer is: no.  In order to use these themes or any other “extra” plugins, you need to have a self-hosted WordPress installation.  By the way, Aamer Khan is a great photographer whose work has been showcased at Muslim Matters – so be sure to check out Aamer’s blog.

The 5 themes include 3 magazine styles and two other themes that you might find interesting.

For your convenience, I am hosting the files on my own server to make the downloading easy.  This also helps in the long-run in case the files are taken down off the original sites.

And now the themes:

Studio WordPress – Download

BlackBerry Magazine – Download

Guzel Magazine – Download

Nano Magazine – Download

Outdoorsy – Download

Allrighty folks.  Take an extra minute or two to check out the other post with 15 more free and awesome themes. Does your blog have a unique look to it?  Have you recently switched to a new theme and want some feedback?

Remember to participate by commenting below – after all, if you have a blog then you are The Muslim Blogger and this is your community.  And if you haven’t had a chance yet, why not join The Muslim Blogger Facebook Group?

Pray istikhaara before changing your theme.  You never know what’s best for you.  Take advantage of this opportunity, and every other moment in your life, to purify your intentions to do everything (including blogging) for the sake of Allah (swt) and Allah (swt) alone.

I ask Allah to guide us to the straight path, to make us from those who follow the authentic Sunnah of the Prophet (saw), and to protect us from any and all innovations.  Ameen.

Running a blog takes a lot of work, good writing, and a good theme.  Some of the themes that come with the wordpress.com blogs are nice but they are used by millions of others.

My recommendation?  Head over to this site and you’ll find that these (free) themes are high-quality and give you a premium-like feel without the premium price.

Remember that a nice theme is not all there is to it.  Make sure that the theme you select (if any) fits the style of your blog. For example, if you have loads of content then you want to go with a magazine style theme.  If, on the other hand, you have somewhat less content then something that is more geared towards highlighting individual posts will work best for you.

Check it out and let me know what you think.  Oh yea, and before you change the theme of your blog, I recommend that you pray istikhaara and make sure that you are doing the right thing.  If you are, Allah (swt) will bless it and make it the best thing that ever happened to your blog.  If not, then Allah (swt) will give you something better.  What more could you possible want?  In case you don’t already know how, this is an excellent opportunity to learn how to pray istikhaara.

Anyhow, check out the link below and let me know what you think.

Leopress is a theme for the Mac fanboys out there.  If you want to make your WordPress blog look exactly like OS X Leopard then this free theme is for you.

Check it out

WPtouch creates an iPhone-friendly version of your site without you having to lift a single finger.  This “other” version (screenshots) is only visible to iPhones.

Check it out

CheckMate is a sweet theme full of features. Some of the best are: 7 color themes, two/three/split column design, FeedBurner integration, and tabbed content.

Check it out

Zemanta helps you find pictures, articles, tags, and links relevant to your post.  This plugin can be hooked to your admin panel or downloaded as a Firefox extension.

Check it out