MUST HAVES for the best CMS sites

So lately I've been working on think about what is a MUST HAVE for someone developing their own content management system for blogging, personal, etc. Feel free to add to the list..

-- Facebook Widget --
Facebook is the most popular social networking site on the net. With a facebook widget you will be able to communicate to users who like your website, even if they don't regularly visit your site. This seems to actually be taking over newsletter forms on many blogs that I've been checking out lately, which can be a problem for Internet marketers.

-- Social Networking Icons --
In your footer, sidebar, within posts, wherever, it doesn't matter. I find the wordpress plugin where you can log into a google or facebook account to comment on a post to be very beneficial, as you know you are more than likely getting real people to respond. And it usually looks super sexy on some sites.

As you can see, even DP has this. Check out the top of the page. Over 4k facebook likes and 1750 twitter tweets. What an easy way to have people spread the word about your content without you even doing anything!!!

--Featured Posts--
Plugins, such as WP-Sticky, allow you to post "announcements" that can sit at the top of your site. If you have an extremely popular post, or are trying to sell something, this is awesome. You can have those special posts always sit at the top of the page to maximize views, or even integrate them into sliders for the ultimate styling!

The reason I brought all this up, is because I've noticed a change in what CMS are starting to look like. Not so many sites are using tag clouds, calendars or meta links in their site anymore. The modern changes are aimed at making sites more social network dependable. I'm curious to hear what all your thoughts are on this.
Post your thoughts

 

Basic SEO features like adding Meta tags and all would be a must I suppose.

 

I totally agree with you, my friend. This is indeed one of the easiest and the smartest ways to publicize your content.