By now, I assume 99% of our readers know how to use an FTP client without me explaining all the boring basics I did last week. I know many of you just hate these beginning posts because you know how to create databases, upload files, modify HTML, but as for the rest of us, these things are necessary.

Many other popular blogs list the plugins they use and it is very wise to copy learn from the professionals and do the same. In this post, I’ll go over the essential plugins we need to get our blog ready for action.

1. Akismet – I can’t stress how essential this is. Akismet is a spam blocker utility that will automatically filter out spam from your comments. What’s great about Akismet is that it adapts to new spam as it comes out which makes it one of the top blog-spam-fighters out on the market today. This is a must-have as spammers will find you faster than anyone else. I had my blog running for about three days and I had already started receiving spam comments.
2. ShareThis – This plugin allows readers to add a post/page/etc to their favorit social bookmarking sites. I don’t use it on this blog because of my layout and style, but it is a great plugin used by many bloggers because it looks good on and works well on blogs. The plugin I use can be found at the end of this post.
3. cformsII - A contact form plugin customizable to almost any degree. It also allows you to create as many forms as you want and is also sweetened with some AJAX technology. I run it on our Ask llora page and the Extreme Designs of the Week Submission Form page.
4. Google XML Sitemaps – Sitemaps are important to getting search engines to index your site and bring in traffic. This plugin makes sitemaps a less of a hassle than it can be by creating and submitting sitemaps to Google,  Yahoo, MSN and Ask.com.
5. Subscribe to Comments – This plugin is a great way to have a great discussion with your readers because it allows them to subscribe to future comments that are left for the post and will email them when that happens.
6. Similar Posts – This automatically chooses and adds related posts at the end of your posts and is definitely something you want in order to keep a reader around.
7. Adsense Manager – Allows you to configure and place ads within your post. This plugin works with other ad serving companies such as Yahoo, Adbrite, Widgetbucks, etc. I use it because I’m very picky where I want my ads and this gives me full control over where each ad shows up. If you’re looking for an automated method of adding Adsense ads to posts, check out the All in One Adsense and YPN plugin.

Other great plugins to use:

AllinOne SEO Pack
Subscribe-Remind
Google Analytics for Wordpress
WP Super Cache

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