One of the primary reasons WordPress is the preferred choice of blogging platform is the limitless possibilities one can expand and extend the functionalities of it with a vast choice of WordPress plugins.
In the last article, I have outlined 20 Things You Ought To Do right after your WordPress setup and in today’s installment of Post Install To-Do List, I’d like to recommend the essential 10 Plugins You Ought To Install to get the maximum performance out of your WordPress.
10 Essential Plugins You Ought To Install
With the new plugins being developed discovered everyday, it can really becomes addictive installing one after the other. The question you need to ask yourself in the context of your blogging needs is which plugins are considered luxuries you can live without and which are deemed necessary.
Plugins can extend WordPress to do almost anything you can imagine
In that regard, here are the essential 10 WordPress plugins you ought to install. Not in any order of importance but in my truest humble opinion these are what you ought to install first and foremost.
Note: For instructions on how to install, please refer to the respective developers’ site
#1 Akismet
Akismet is the de facto anti-spam plugin that comes bundled with your WordPress Package. The use of it requires a WordPress.com API key. Undoubtedly, it’s one of the most indispensable plugins and deemed to be one of the best to combat spammy comments.
Well, almost the best and for extra layer of protection, I’d recommend the combo use of Akismet and WP Hashcash.
#2 Platinum SEO
Platinum SEO Pack is the ultimate SEO solution to getting your blog ranks high better in the Search Engine Results. Basically, what it does is to optimize your post and page titles and automate all SEO relevant META tag (description and keyword tags) for search engines.
I can’t think of any other plugins that does the same wonderful job of on-site optimization than Platinum SEO. Kudos to Rajesh.
#3 Dofollow
In my opinion, if you are a new kid in the blogosphere, what other better incentive to offer your readers to comment than removing the nofollow tag on all the comment links and this Dofollow plugin is all that you need without messing up with your code.
Here’s Ultimate List of Nofollow & Dofollow Plugins by Andy Beard, the undisputed strong advocate of dofollow.
#4 Google XML Sitemaps
Google XML Sitemaps will generate a compatible sitemap of your WordPress blog which is supported by all the major search engines. Basically a sitemap tells the search engines how, when and what to index your site.
If your site is yet to be indexed by Google, submit your sitemap via Google Webmasters Tools using your existing Google account, or create an account if you don’t have one.
#5 FD Feedburner Plugin
In the last article, I’ve touched briefly on the need to create a Feedburner account, what this FD Feedburner Plugin does is to redirect all feeds to a Feedburner feed seamlessly and transparently for all users. Just tell the plugin what your Feedburner feed URL is and you’re done.
It does help to make subscription a whole lot easier for the non-tech savvy readers with just “One Easy Click”. Here’s how to create your FeedBurner account.
#6 Secure Contact
Contact form is the essential element of your blog. It’s the avenue of communication between you and your readers. Though there are a couple of contact form scripts for you to choose from, I’d recommend Secure-Contact for its sheer simplicity and enhanced security with captcha images.
#7 Subscribe to Comments
How do you keep your commenters coming back? Being one of the underused plugins among the newer blogs, Subscribe To Comments allows your commenters to receive an email notification when a new message is posted.
As blog commenting on multiple blogs has become part of daily routine, I can’t think of a better way to encourage your commenters to come back and stay engaged in the discussion.
This is one simple yet useful plugin that has a huge implication on your readership level. So stop asking yourself why you aren’t getting enough comments.
#8 WP Database Backup
They say, “Prevention is better than cure”. Regardless of how old is your blog, you shouldn’t put off till another day to backup your blog, WP Database Backup is the easiest way to automate the daily backup of your blog lest anything goes wrong.
You can easily opt to send it to your email daily and everything works behind the scene for a peace of mind. Highly recommended…no question about it.
#9 WP Super Cache
WP Super Cache is a static caching plugin for WordPress. It generates HTML files that are served directly without processing comparatively heavy PHP scripts. By using this plugin you will speed up your WordPress blog significantly.
Here’s 5 Possible Ways to Speed Up Your Blog.
#10 OneClick
OneClick will certainly change the way you install plugin and theme on your WordPress. Once installed and used with OneClick Installer Firefox extension, it simplifies the effort to install both plugin and theme to just one single click without the use of any FTP upload.
All you need to is to right click on the download link, activate and presto, you’re done. It couldn’t be any easier than this and I can attest to it.
In Summary
Though the above list may not be exhaustive, these 10 plugins should be enough to cover the basic functions you need to optimally run your WordPress blogs and enhance its overall performance.
Keep in mind that theoretically the more plugins you use, the slower your blog will load. So selective use of them is highly recommended here.
For The Best of The Best, do check out what Jim @ The Net Fool has to recommend for Top WordPress Plugins for Any Type of Blog.
What other plugin do you think is equally important to be on this post install checklist? Suggestions are most welcome.
Trivial Question: Do you have any idea why I don’t link out all the plugins to the WordPress Plugins Directory?
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I couldn’t agree more with this list! Plugins likes WP Backup orWP Super Cache are so useful that I wonder why they didn’t come bundled with Wordpress by default.
Anyways, very great list Yan, thanks!
jbj’s last blog post..8 excellent resources to enhance your Wordpress sidebar
Thanks for finding my platinum seo plugin as indispensable :)…surely a great list of plugins…super cache and wordpress database backup are my favourites apart from akismet…
These are some pretty cool plugins. Some of these I already have on my entrepreneurs blog, but some I haven’t and I will need to look into.
Thanks for letting me know about these. Really good and worthwhile post
@jbj – Yeah, it’s a wonder why both are not bundled in the package. Anyway, WordPress is getting better with each update and I believe it’s just a matter of time they will be added as new features in the future release.
@Rajesh – As usual, I have always recommended it to anyone to use your plugin. Look forward to your next great development.
@Ryan McLean – Thanks, buddy for the great compliment and appreciate your dropping by here. I wonder how you manage your time blog commenting everywhere…
I agree with the full list of plugins.
Let me tell you the first plugin i installed when i started using wordpress blog back in dec 2007 was All in One SEO. Now i have switched to platinum SEO.
Simply great list…
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@Yan: Yeah, I hope!
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I’m still a wordpress newbie, i have never tried Super Cache, OneClick and Secure Contact. I’ll give them a try! Usefull post, thanks
Very solid list. :) I use most of these (or similar) except first and last.
Rarst’s last blog post..If browsers were umbrellas
@Nihar – Yup, there is no other plugin that can be as effective as Platinum SEO..
@whitening – You are welcome. You seem to have a nice niche on your blog.
@Rarst – OMG, what sort of spam protection do you have on your blog?
I noticed that you use strike-throughs in your posts. Is this a technique you use to get attention or are you still using a manual typewriter?
I actually like this list much better than the “20″ list… You’ve mentioned some plug ins that I’ve not heard about elsewhere..
Platinum SEO? I’m a user of All-In-One SEO Pack, and have heard many recommendations, but I’ve never heard of Platinum SEO – I’m going to look into this!
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Great list Yan, I have been using all-in-one but I will take a look at the Platinum SEO.
As in plugins – none. :) New comments get in moderation. Comments form authors that commented previously skip moderation. Spammers are copied into blacklist.
Overall I only have to deal with first comment from any source. All following are either approved or blacklisted.
And I can be sure that ALL spam is nuked while NONE of good comments are mistakenly spammed. It drives me mad when spamfilters eat my comments in other blogs and I don’t want to grief my readers in that way.
Rarst’s last blog post..If browsers were umbrellas
Great timing Yan!
I absolutely agree with you on the first paragraph, that’s why I chose Wordpress too.
Some notes:
#2: thank you very much for this one, I’d have chosen a worse one instead
#4: also very useful, I had problems withGoogle WMTools , hope it helps
#5: I don’t understand this one. Isn’t it you just type in your alternate feed in Wordpress?
#7: absolutely agreed
#10: OMG I can’t believe this one
and I’m going to install all the others as well, they seem very useful too thanks again
P.S.: could you please list me all the plugins you use here or send me an email, I don’t know but a few of them and I’m curious.
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@Ryan – No, I’m not using a manual typewriter. Well, it’s a habit that’s hard to break.
@Elijah & @Larry – All In One SEO is the predecessor of Platinum SEO and fact is the latter has more features than the former.
@Rarst – Sounds good to me and I’m pretty surprised that you can let your gate open that wide. Perhaps, when your blog grows bigger, you might consider having one.
@rjani – I’m glad you find them useful and the timing? well, it’s quiet coincidental anyway..:-)
#5. You need to create an account with Feedburner first before you could actually use the plugin. In fact, the setting is pretty self-explanatory. It’s a no-brainer.
Let me know (email me) if you need anything else, I’d be glad to help the best I can.
Hi Yan,
Thanks for introducing me to “One Click” – I’d never heard of it before now…it looks really good….I’ll be trying it out for sure.
Wp email and WP print are another couple of good plugins for your readers to print off an article and later or email something you’ve posted to a friend.
Wp email
Wp print
You could also add SEO Slugs to your list….It automaticall removes words like “The” “a” and “I” from your post slugs to improve SEO.
Cheers Kel
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Hey Kel
Thanks for the suggestion on both plugins. For the sake of this article, I’m exploring the 10 basic plugins to install right after the initial blog setup.
Anyway, thanks for the visit and hope to see more of you sharing your input with the readers here.
Cheers
thanks for the nice list of plugins. Going to try few :)
i think social bookmarking plugins such as shareThis is great as well
Thanks for the compliment and your suggestion. Here’s a warm welcome to thoushallblog.com.
No commentluv, really?
All in all a great list, I’ve subscribed. :-)
@Dennis: Oh yes, commentluv is an awesome plugin. I’m just recommending the basic 10 plugins one needs to install right after the initial setup.
Well, I could go on and on but for a start, the list is sufficient enough not to keep anyone away from the most important task at hand – that is writing the very fist post.
Appreciate your suggestion and hope to see more of you around here.
My bad, CL is one I must initially install LOL.
You will definitely see me :-)
Great list. Thank you. Just started with WP a couple weeks ago and I have some of these but not all. Thanks again.
You are welcome and I hope this article helps you run a little faster. Welcome to thoushallblog.com and look forward to seeing you again.
do you recommend for one to install all plugins at once?
Hey Joe
Yes, these are the essential 10 plugins you must install right after you setup your blog.
Let me know if you need any help..
Cheers
Yan
I use most if not close to all of these plugins on my blog Probably Sucks, and they are indispensable without a doubt.
The Do Follow plugin is a necessity for all new bloggers.
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Hey Dwayne
What a name for a blog! Glad you have them all. Anyway, thanks for dropping by and appreciate your input.
Looking forward to seeing you again.
Yan
I had, literally, no idea about Platinum SEO. Now that I do, I am going to give it a whirl in a bit and see how things go.
These are all very good plug ins for the beginner, and I’d even recommend one that is not on this list: Wordpress Database back up. Great tool for the “newbies” like me :D
Thanks again for this! I’m glad to have found it!
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@M. Pence: Oh I guess you have missed it but I did recommend WordPress Database Backup #8 as one of the 10 indispensable plugins.
How could I miss such an important tool. Still I appreciate your input and look forward to seeing you again.
Till then
Great list of plugins… I’ve pretty much got all of them installed over at my blog except the SEO pack.
Does it make that big of a difference if you have a good theme with SEO built in. I thought Google didn’t care about meta keywords.
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Well, no matter how good a theme is, you still need to optimize your post title with the relevant keywords for both your readers and search engines and that’s what Platinum SEO does well.
Anyway, thanks for your compliment and hope to see more of you around here.
These are some great plugins. Many I was aware of, but many I wasn’t, and am going to install right now. Thanks for the helpful blog.
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@WK: You are welcome and I’m glad you find those to be of use. Welcome to thoushallblog.com.
I use six of these, and I love them, and I’m pretty much secure with that. I noticed you didn’t mention CommentLuv, which you use, but I’m sure that was just an oversight. lol
One I use that I believe is an drop dead number one is the Automatic Upgrade Plugin, which I wrote about here, and then wrote one more time to tell people that, if that plugin needs to be updated, always update it first before updating any other plugins. Trust me on that one. :-)
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Well, I could go on and on but these 10 are what you need to install first and foremost right after your WordPress setup.
While both CommentLuv and WAU are as good as the other 10, you can still make do without them in the beginning.
Anyway, thanks for your input….
Yan,
I am using the All in One SEO Pack. Can you or anyone tell me the main difference between this and Platinum SEO plugin?
Peter Lee
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Peter
Platinum SEO is the successor to All In One SEO and the main difference between the two is that Platinum SEO takes care of all the 301 redirection automatically for any change of permalink.
Yan
Thanks for the list. Platinum SEO caught my attention. I’ve been using All-in-one SEO. How do the two compare?
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This is a very useful list, not only for beginners in the world of blogging. I already use several of them, but I should consider including #8 and #9 in my blog. Concerning Dofollow: I had it installed, but found that NoFollow Free gives me more flexibility.
8MinutesOld´s lastest post..Christian Pareidolia Study (Part II): The List
All in one SEO is also a strong plugin.
Great resource! here’s another tool you might like – Kaltura’s Interactive Video plugin. This is not just another video embed tool – the plugin enables you to enhance your blog with a full video experience. Upload/ record/import videos directly to your post, edit and remix video content, enable video responses, manage and track your video content and much more…
Hi Yan i think you have a great list here. I down loaded Secure Contact and Subscribe to comments but just cant seem to get them to work. I cant seem to find the contact form on my blog and it states after a commenter leaves a comment it should say thank you for your comment but it does not. Can you help me any in this problem? Thank you for your time in advance its greatly appreciated.
Bill
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I can’t get database back up to work. Any tips?
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Hey Joel
What plugin do you use to back up your database? Are you using WP Database Backup?
Yan
Great list. I just knew WP Super Cache can speed up WordPress blog significantly. Thanks.
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Great post, Yan!
I installed these or at least, in some cases, variations of these plugins. Some make my comment form funky but I’ll fix that when I tweak the theme that I am using.
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Hey Emma
Which plugin is doing the funky dance?
Yan
Commentluv, Subscribe to Comments and SezWho. I like using those three plugins because they all benefit the commentators as well as myself :)
I am creating a custom wordpress theme for my new site anyway so I’ll be able to make sure that they all play nicely with the code haha
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Out of all the pulgins listed i use 7 out of 10. Another superb plugin is whatwouldsethgodindo.
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Hey Yan
This is just what I was looking for and NEED !!
Got my blog started about 3 months ago and things are going well, the only plugin I have used so far are akismet lol
Looks like I now know what else I gotta use right :)
There are a couple you suggest that Im not sure if I need. My site is indexed in google so do I still require the sitemap plugin ??
So I will pop off now and research these plugins, in the next 2-3 weeks I am giving my blog a major makeover so when the new theme is running I now will have the right plugins to go with it !!
Thanks
Dean
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Yan,
Excellent list!
I guess you don’t link to the Wordpress Plugin Directory to reward the plugins’ authors for their work.
Thanks!
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Thank you so much for sharing. This is useful for new bloggers like me. I’m working on it. :)
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Hi Yan–I have been attending Dean’s Starting with Marketing Academy and just wanted to let you know he has released his updated Blog Setup Guide 2.8 which you are more than welcome to download from my website if you’d like. Take care,
Ralph
Great list. I’ve installed most of these, but learned about a few others. The dofollow plugin makes perfect sense for new blogs. They all sound great though. Thanks for sharing!
First of all: I think it`s kinda incredible that people make their blog nofollow. Off course, if you`re site is good enough it will draw people anyway, but you will get heaps of traffic if you give the people something for visiting – like a link. And the comments you get doesn`t have to have poor quality just because of this. I would know, I have dofollow and commentluv on all my sites. Works like a charm. Man, I just luuuv commentluv and keywordluv!