Probably you are already aware that we are not great fans of plugins in general. With this we mean that we don’t like to use plugins for each and every added functionality, especially since many of those plugins can be hard-coded in the functions.php template.

However, there are definitely plugins around where it doesn’t make sense to try to accomplish the added functionality on your own, and therefore we of course also tend to use a few of them.

For this WordPress Tip we only want to list the plugins that (in our opinion) are absolutely essential for each and every WordPress install.

Akismet

Yeah, we know that every standard WordPress install comes with the Akismet plugin, but we still want to list it in this “essential plugins”-list. What does it do? “Akismet checks your comments against the Akismet web service to see if they look like spam or not.”
To install it you need a WordPress.com API key, get it at the link. You can actually use one key for multiple blogs/websites. Once activated you can sit back and relax and you will notice that all of your spam comments are automatically deleted!

Ever experienced a server crash, your blog being hacked or any other unexpected loss of your valuable data? Probably you have and if you have not, consider yourself lucky! Either way, with the next two “essential plugins” your data is always safe and even if all goes down, you will be up and running in no time!

WordPress Database Backup

“WordPress Database Backup creates backups of your core WordPress tables as well as other tables of your choice in the same database.” You can do manual backups, for example after big changes and you can also schedule your backups to be emailed to you on a regular basis.
If your site collapses on you, all you have to do is take the contents of the file (open it with your favorite text editor) and dump them into a MySQL query in your phpMyAdmin.

WordPress Backup

“WordPress Backup performs regular backups of your upload (images), current theme, and plugin directories.” By default this plugin saves the backup on your server, but you can also have them emailed to you, again with regular intervals.

The two plugins above are essential to keep your data safe!

WordPress.com Stats

Everyone wants to see how his/her website is doing, right?
Before our favorite stats plugin was Woopra, but since they have changed into a paid mode, we have lost interest. Now of course there is Google Analytics, but we think that for most websites that is a bit too much.
A great simple alternative is the WordPress.com Stats plugin. Although the name suggests otherwise, you can also use it on a self-hosted WordPress installation. Like Akismet, you need a WordPress.com API key for it to work.
One tiny disadvantage of the plugin can be that it adds a little smiley to your footer, but with one line of CSS, you can get rid of that: img#wpstats {display:none;}

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a must for each and every website; eventually we all want our website to rank in the top and be found in searches?!
With the next two “essential plugins” we will tackle the SEO of your website.

All in One SEO Pack

Of all the SEO plugins around, All in One SEO Pack is by far the best. It comes with a whole bunch of options and default behavior that you can adapt to your wishes.

Google XML Sitemaps

Not all websites have a sitemap, which basically is also an essential tool for SEO. Of course you can build one by yourself if your website’s content doesn’t change too much. But if you start writing Posts on a daily basis, it is a lot better to have this done automatically. That is where the Google XML Sitemaps generator plugin comes in handy. After installing the plugin you have to confirm all the settings once and build the first sitemap. From then on, it is a full automatic process.

The two plugins above are essential for Search Engine Optimization!

Contact Form 7

Every website or blog needs a way to contact the author, that is the reason why we have included the contact form plugin in this “essential plugins”-list.
Our favorite contact form plugin is Contact Form 7, mostly due to its simplicity. But don’t underestimate this plugin, it is capable of very complex forms and there is also great support available.

Which plugins do you use standard for each WordPress installation?