Here are 10 must have plugins for your wordpress site. These are the plugins I install on every site I work on. Some may have alternatives of the same thing and they cover everything from SEO, to backing up to readability.

  1. BackWPup or WP-DB-backup
    Because it’s not a question of if, it’s a question of when … so be prepared and have your work backed up. Either of these plugins provides an easy solution to back up your database daily, weekly, or monthly. I recommend setting up a separate email account with google and send your scheduled back ups to it so you know you always have a copy of your blog or site.
  2. Akismet
    A very powerful spam filter for all  your post comments.
  3. All In One SEO Pack
    Wordpress is known for it’s natural search engine findability. Add this plugin for page titles, descriptions and key words, set your permalinks, and enter your update services. Sit back and expect some visitors. 🙂
  4. Sharedaddy or AddToAny
    These are the little sharing icons that appear at the bottom of your posts and/or pages so your visitors can easily share to Facebook, Twitter, etc, etc and also email the link.
  5. Contact Form 7
    You should never display your email address in plain text on your website. This is a target for spammers that can be easily found. Instead you Contact Form 7 to create contact forms for your visitors to reach you and protect your email address.
  6. Fancy Box for WordPress or NextGEN Gallery
    Both of these provide the wow factor to the photos. When clicked the photo jumps forward in a fancy box. NextGEN Gallery is better if you have many photos in galleries and albums to organize and manage. If you just have a few photos in your posts and pages Fancy Box works just fine.
  7. WordPress Stats
    If you have every had a site at wordpress.com they provide stats. This plug provides stat to your self hosted site so you see the traffic to your site.
  8. WPtouch
    Really great plugin, no set up required, just install and it converts your entire site to be touch pad friendly for viewing on iPad or iPhone.
  9. wp-Typography
    If you care about typography and I do.
  10. Social Profiles Widget
    Several icon styles to choose from in this easy to use social networking (Facebook, Twitter and many more) subscribe and feed buttons for your header, footer or sidebar

And here is a list of optional plugins my clients have enjoyed but not necessarily for everyone.

  1. Snow Storm
    We don’t have to be so serious all the time. 🙂 Snow Storm adds a festive falling snow to your site during the winter holiday season.