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WordPress is notorious for its ability to be customized. Most of that customization happens through plug-ins made by developers. There is a plug-in for most anything you need or want WordPress to do including, but certainly not limited to: providing downloads, allowing users to upload photos, displaying images in snazzy galleries, tracking stats, database backups and so much more than can possibly be imagined. Here are a few basics that you shouldn’t live without.

Akismet – This one is so essential that it comes packaged with WordPress when you install it. It’s easy to configure, but you might get stuck when it asks for your API key. This post will help you out. Akismet helps you manage your comments on your blog by filtering out the spam.

All In One SEO Pack – This plug-in helps you optimize your content for search engines by providing fields for meta data like: post title, description, and tags. This one takes the leg work out of search engine optimization.

Contact Form 7 – Have you ever seen those sharp and professional contact forms on other websites and wondered how to get one or even tried to figure out how to make one and found out it was way out of your technical reach? Contact Form 7 gives you…the contact form. When someone fills out the form, it sends the data to the email you specify.

Google XML Sitemaps – A sitemap is a must if you’re trying to get anywhere on the Internet. A sitemap makes it possible for Google to index all the pages on your site and increases your search engine placement. This plug-in automatically updates your sitemap when you write a new post. It makes a chore into something you never have to think about.

Sexy Bookmarks – This plug-in makes adding your post to a myriad of social media sites easy for your readers. It has almost every social networking and social bookmarking site imaginable. Choose the ones you want to appear, where you want them and let Sexy Bookmarks do the rest.

Simple Tags – Simple Tags turns tagging your post from a typing nightmare into point and click ease. Select your tags from a list of local tags and popular tags from the Internet.

StatPress – StatPress is a powerful and informative tracking plug-in that gives you all kinds of information about your visitors. Here’s a detailed review. If you use StatPress, you will want to ban any IP address you use personally to check your site, or it will count you as traffic. Here’s how to do it.

WordPress Database Backup – This plug-in backs up your WordPress database so you can restore your site in the event that you get hacked. You can perform a backup manually, or use the scheduling tools in the plug-in to back it up automatically and send it to your email.

WP Download Manager – This plug-in allows you to easily add files to your posts or pages and make them available for download. It’s a must have if you create any type of content that you want to make available to your readers for free.

WP Decoratr - WP Decoratr makes adding images to your posts easy. Instead of having to search for stock images or find royalty free photos to enhance your posts, WP Decoratr pulls keywords and phrases from your post. It then gives you a wide array of pictures to choose from that are royalty free or available through Creative Commons.

These are plug-ins that I endorse and use on my own sites. I’ll be doing reviews of these and others as time goes on because I’m rather addicted to finding new and useful plug-ins. If you found this post helpful, drop me a comment. I’d like to hear from you.