It is hard to find a CMS software that would be more convenient and powerful than WordPress. Every minute hundreds of WordPress blogs are being created. WordPress software offers very extensive set of default features though often we need more unique options to improve blog's performance.
Currently WordPress plugins directory contains over 14K plugins. Of course some of these do not work properly or might have become obsolete, but even so it is hard to navigate through tons of useful plugins out there, especially if you're new to WordPress.
In case you are new to it, and if you have everything else prepared, the hardest task for you would be to install decent plugins - we mean the plugins that really are worth your time and that will in fact improve your new blog's functionality. Anyways, here is a list of essential plugins that you'll need to install right after you WordPress blog goes live.
1. WP Super Cache
This plugin saves your web servers from crashing by generating static html files which are exact replicas of your dynamic pages. So, if your blog post hits the front page on Digg, Reddit or Slashdot, this plugin will be a real saviour for you. Technically this plugin delivers to your visitors html files instead of processing WordPress PHP scripts over and over again for every single visitor, that saves a lot of resources for your servers and your website doesn't crash.
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2. Akismet
This is the most effective and powerful plugin that protects your blog from spam comments. You can receive special reports that would inform you about spam activities on your blog. Please notice that for activating Akismet plugin you need to have a special API key that is free for non-commercial blogs and paid for commercial and business projects.
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3. Google XML Sitemaps
Google XML Sitemaps creates special XML sitemap which helps search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo to better index your blog. So, when there's an XML sitemap of your site search engine crawlers would see the whole structure of your blog. Also this plugin notifies all major engines about content updates on your website.
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4. All in One SEO Pack
This plugin is one of the SEO-optimizing solutions for WordPress websites. This software delivers a bunch of useful options that you can edit in order to make your blog better optimized - including editing custom post types, advanced canonical URLs and so on. Another great thing about this plugin is that it works out of the box - even if you are a rookie you don't have to look for how to turn on a certain option - it works right after the installation.
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5. WP-DBManager
WordPress Database manager is a powerful tool which offers a wide range of various functions that you can apply to your database. You can restore, repair, backup, optimize databases by using this efficient software.
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6. Contact Form 7
You can't have a blog without a contact form and this is one of the most essential plugins for WordPress. We offer you to try out a Contact Form 7 plugin due to its flexibility and efficiency. Plugin supports CAPTCHA, Ajax-powered submitting, multiple contact forms management and Akismet spam filtering.
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7. Google Analyticator
Google Analyticator adds special JavaScript code to your blog which enables Google Analytics logging on any WordPress blog. This plugin doesn't require you to edit the blog's code by pasting there Analytics code, it starts working right after the installation and the only thing you'll have to do is to paste your Google Analytics ID into a proper field on a plugin settings page.
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That's it for now, of course there are so many other similar plugins or maybe plugins that would satisfy your custom needs, but with these ones here we've tried to offer you the most significant and useful plugins that are used by most of the bloggers. As always we would be glad to hear your opinions and thoughts concerning current topic in the comments section to this post.