There are thousands and thousands of WP plugins, for just about every conceivable need. I basically assume that whatever clients want on their site, I can find a plugin to do it. But what you discover is that there are so many, it’s hard to know which ones are any good. You have to try them all out. So you plunk one in, activate it, discover it’s crappy or confusing or doesn’t work the way you expected, delete, and go back to try another one.
It can be a very tedious process.
Below is a list of the plugins I think are the best. First are the core plugins that I install on every WordPress site, followed by other plugins that I think are great, but might not be needed on every installation.
The essential WP Plugins
These should be part of every WP installation.
Add to Any
So readers can share your posts on all the social networking services.
Akismet
A default plugin that comes with your WordPress installation. Please activate it to help fight against comment spammers! It only takes a minute to get an API key that you can use on all your WP sites.
Google Analyticator
Puts the Google Analytics code into your site, so that you don’t have to edit a PHP file. What I really like about it, however, is that is places a widget into the WordPress dashboard, so that you can get a rough grasp of your site statistics at a glance.
Google XLM Sitmaps
Creates a sitemap and notifies the search engines. You should also link to it through Google Webmaster Tools, Bing’s Webmaster Center, and Yahoo! Site Explorer.
W3 Total Cache
This plugin creates a “cache” of your WordPress site: static pages that are faster to download, therefore improving your site’s performance. And when your page-load is faster, you get a little SEO boost in the Google algorithm.
WordPress Database Backup
It’s important to make regular backups of your site, and this plugin does it quickly and conveniently.
Other important plugins
These plugins might not be needed on every site, but will probably be useful on most.
Contact Form 7
Seems to be the best free contact form plugin. I like its flexibility and simplicity.
Easy Privacy Policy
Creates a Google-compliant policy page (a requirement for including Adsense on your site). Use this and you don’t need to scrounge around for the legal information yourself.
FD Feedburner Plugin
Use this after you’ve created a Feedburner feed for your blog. It makes sure all RSS requests are routed through Feedburner.
Quick Adsense
A great plugin for placing ads on your site, in sidebars or within posts. Works with all kinds of ads, not just Adsense.
No doubt there are more. And of course, what is “essential” or “best” depends on your needs, or your perspective. I didn’t include any SEO plugins, for example, because I use themes with great SEO capabilities built-in.
I’ll try to keep this list updated, as I learn of new plugins that provide essential functions. Hope you find it useful.

