5 Blogging Plugins You Must Use

Plugins for the Wordpress platform are tons of fun and incredibly useful. You'll find everything you need to turn your blog into something that is every bit as great as you would have imagined. While there are many plugins out there that are worth your while, the five that follow are the cream of the crop.

Akismet

This plugin actually comes standard with your Wordpress installation. You will have to get a Wordpress.com API key to make it work, but after you do it's pure bliss. It keeps spam comments away automatically! Akismet is smart enough to put suspected spam into a separate folder, and it even learns from you as you go. Always activate this plugin for the best results with your blog. It saves you a ton of time too!

Related Posts

Linking to different pages in your blog from every page is a great search engine optimization tactic. The problem with blogs is that it can be so hard to dig through old posts that are related and manually link them in your new post. Related posts solves that problem! It will automatically insert some relevant posts for your blog. It's very hands-off and very effective. Both visitors and search engines love this plugin.

All in One SEO Pack

Once again, optimizing your site for the search engines is going to be one of the best ways you can make money with your blog. The higher you rank, the more traffic you get. The more traffic you get the more money you make! The All In One SEO pack makes your life easier because it allows you to specify the title, description (that will show up in the search engines), and keywords.

Wordpress Database Backup

Backing up your blog is crucial if you value your business. You never know what could happen to your server, and it would be devastating to lose everything. This plugin allows you to easily back everything up by pressing a few simple buttons.

Top Commentators

This plugin is really cool and it encourages a lot of interaction on your blog. It lists the people who have the most comments within your blog. They love this because they get the extra exposure. You love it because people really get into posting to try and be at the top. It also gives social proof. When people visit a blog for the first time they are more likely to stick around if there are clearly other people there who value your content. The fact that they can see others participating is a great thing.

There are an incredible number of different plugins out there that are ready for you to use. Install these essentials and you'll be well-prepared to become the great blogger you're going to become.