Essential Plugins for WordPress:

WordPress offers tons of plugins which confuses the new user. Not just that but there are multiple plugins that serves the same purpose and have the same functions. The ones you need to get the upper edge, I will cover it in this article. I am only mentioning the plugins that you need to start off your site.

How can you get them? You need to visit the Plugins Directory at WordPress. With the new version of WordPress 2.7.1 and above are offering plugin installations from the WordPress admin panel.

Login to the admin panel of your site. Click on plugin from left menu then click on “add new” button. Now you see this screen below:

Use search or popular tag for your plugins.

Akismet – comes installed with your WordPress by default. All you have to do is get an API Key to activate it. It prevents your blog from comment spam. Read our Akismet 101 Guide for All WordPress Users.

All-in-One SEO – This is an ultimate necessity for your blog if you want to have any chance of ranking high in search engines. All-in-One-SEO Pack allows you to add unique meta description, keywords, and titles to each page of your blog and blog posts. (User’s Guide for All in One SEO for the Recommended Settings and tips).

Google XML Sitemap – This plugin will generate a special XML sitemap which will help search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo and Ask.com to better index your blog. With such a sitemap, it’s much easier for the crawlers to see the complete structure of your site and retrieve it more efficiently. Additionally, it notifies all major search engines every time you create a post about the new content.

Contact Form 7 – When running a blog you need to allow your users to contact you. This is the best free contact form plugin to this date. It makes everything easy.

Really Simple CAPTCHA – You will need this Really Simple CAPTCHA plugin installed on WordPress if you use CAPTCHA with the Contact Form 7. If you don’t use CAPTCHA, you don’t have to do so.

WordPress Database Backup – This plugin lets you make backup for your blog as often as you need. You can set this process to be automated and have it deliver to your email or a safe spot in your webhost. By having this plugin, you can always stay on the safe side because if anything goes wrong, you have the latest backup in your possession. (Other Database Backup Solutions)