Akismet Where would we be without Akismet? When I first used WordPress Akismet was near enough standard and everyone downloaded it.
Now, it is standard and included in the latest versions of WordPress.
And it is certainly worth using if you are leaving comments open.
So get yourself an API key and make sure that you activate it.
If you do not, then you are leaving yourself open to loads of comment spam.
WordPress.
com Stats I first started using this as part of another plugin, but very quickly grew to find the plugin very useful.
Previously I had always relied on Google Analytics for my website stats, but this plugin, which gives less detail, presents what you need to know right in your blog.
Graphs of up to the minute visitor stats, where they have come from, how they found you and where they went.
Invaluable information to improve your blog.
WordPress.
com Popular Posts This is the plugin that requires the stats and why I discovered the stats plugin.
This plugin in itself allows you to display a list of your most often referred to posts.
These popular posts are a good way of steering visitors around your blog to areas of interest and a way of keeping them on your blog for longer.
Ultimately, this builds trust and makes them more likely to join your RSS or newsletter.
Contact Form 7 A simple and easy to use contact form.
It does what it says! But I think it is one of the most useful plugins because it gives you the basis for a contact page, without having to display your email address.
If you do display your email, then spammers can scrape it and start filling your inbox.
But do not have any contact method available and then no-one can make you advertising offers and so on! Really Simple CAPTCHA Again, does what it says! Only one function to this plugin and that is to display a CAPTCHA box on your newsletter.
But by using this plugin you are almost fully preventing spammers from automatically submitting your contact form and saving yourself a load of spam! Yet Another Related Posts Plugin Where are your readers going to go once they reach the bottom of the post that they are currently reading? Well, install this little plugin and it will suggest similar themed posts on your blog that might interest them.
You know what they are reading about now, so offer them more.
Again, this is a simple method of increasing the time that visitors spend on your website and the chances of them becoming a regular reader of your blog.
Post to Twitter Almost perfect this plugin, I use it frequently on my blogs.
It just sends the title of your post to your Twitter account every time you publish a new post, which not only saves you the effort, but gives your posting more exposure via Twitter.
This can increase your Twitter followers whilst increasing your blog's readers.
As I said, almost perfect, I just make a simple change to the way that it posts the title, but this is not really required so use it as it stands.