[Plugin: Simple Tags] Can’t get the plug-in working properly

I can’t seem to find any good documentation on how this plug-in is supposed to work. I’m very new to WordPress and blogging in general. I’m not doing anything fancy yet, like autotagging or using suggested tags. I’m just trying to get the basics working. I’ve installed the plugin (using all default settings), but I’m running into the following problems:

1) Any tags I add directly to the post (comma separated) are not showing up in my blog’s side panel. I can only see tags when added directly from “Manage –> Manage Tags”. And those seem to add themselves to every post. Does this plug-in not work with the out-of-the-box “tag” text area in the Write Post panel?
2) The “cloud” doesn’t show up in my blog’s side panel. It looks very similar to the out-of-the-box tag widget. Is there something I need to code into the PHP? I’m using a theme that is widget-ready, so I figured this would work without any coding adjustments.

I’m feeling like I’m just missing a few simple things or I just don’t have a complete understanding of how this is supposed to work.

Thanks!