Plugins add another level of functionality to the already impressive WordPress blogging system. They are small pieces of code, often a single file that you upload to your WordPress blog, and they will then add some new functions, such as anti-spam, stats, SEO, reader interaction etc. This list is of the plugins I have used, and can recommend. I’d be glad to hear your recommendations:

Behind The Scenes: Your readers won’t see the effects, but you will.

Akismet: Bundled with the WordPress installation files, Akismet is a spam killer plugin, which so far has a 100% success rate for me over 2 blogs. It is constantly updated with the latest spam IP’s and messages doing the rounds, and anything suspicious is withheld from your blog, and moved to a moderation queue. Here, you can choose to allow the comment if it is not spam, delete it, or just ignore it in which case it is deleted automatically in 15 days. Essential.

FeedBurner Feed Replacement: If you use FeedBurners excellent service for your RSS feed, you really should install this plugin. This will ensure that your old WordPress feeds are routed through FeedBurner, and you will see stats for ALL of your subscribers.

FireStats: This plugin generates the little country/browser icons you can see beside the comments, the basic stats you can see in my right sidebar, and a whole host of stats for you to view in your dashboard. Very useful.

Google Sitemaps: A sitemap is an excellent tool for helping Google index your site, as I explained here. This plugin, generates a sitemap for your blog, updates it when you post, and pings Google to let them know. All you have to do is install and activate it.

Head META Description: Generates META tags for individual posts and pages automatically. Another way of increasing your chances of ranking well in Google search, and another plugin that requires nothing from you except installation.

Optimal Title: If you look at an individual post of mine such as this one, you will notice in the header that it gives the post name first, and then the blog name, whereas the normal order is the other way round. The advantage for this is to improve readability in search results: If we both have a post called ‘Favourite WordPress plugins’, and someone searches for that term, whose results are they going to click on: Mine titled “Favourite WordPress plugins>Blog-Op”, or the one titled “yourblogname.com>archives> Favourite WordPress plugins”?

WordPress Database Backup: This used to be included as standard with WordPress installations, but for some reason they dropped it for WP2.1. No matter, version 2 is out now, and it’s even better. If you use WP 2.1, you can now set the backup plugin to backup automatically on a set frequency, and email you the backup. If you don’t backup, you run the risk of losing your entire blog contents forever, should something go wrong with your host. Install this plugin now.

OK, they are the plugins I use that by and large your readers won’t see the effects of, but will benefit you greatly. If you have any further recommendations, I’d love to hear them.

Tomorrow, I’ll list those plugins that I use to improve my readers experience, and to increase interaction.