WordPress is one of the most popular content management systems (CMS) that bloggers, professional freelancers, and major corporations would use to manage their site’s content. It’s what I use for this and other blogs I own. I’ve tried other CMSs, but WordPress has always been the easiest to learn and maintain. There are thousands of WordPress blogs out there, but those that really stand out are the blogs that utilize plug-ins designed to make the user experience friendly, productive, and secure online. Many developers all over the world have contributed their own WordPress plug-ins, but there are only 10 plug-ins that have stood out from all of the rest based on their usefulness, their effect on people’s blogging experience, and their abilities to up the quality of the blog.

Let’s have a look at these top 10 plug-ins for users writing on WordPress:

1. Akismet – Akismet has by far been the most favorited plug-in by users because it is able to stop spammy comments from filling up the pages of your blog and it works really well in a sense that you don’t have to make your readers type in CAPTCHAs just to be able to leave a comment in your blog entry.

2. Contact Form 7 – Contact forms are very important for every website and Contact Form 7 has proven to be the easiest to configure on a WordPress blog. It’s very easy to set up plus you can create multiple forms . The nice thing about Contact Form 7 is that you can flexibly customize the form and the contents with simple mark-ups.

3. All-in-one SEO pack – The All-in-one SEO pack is a must-have plug-in for any WordPress site or blog because it works very well in optimizing your site as a whole for search engines to find. Some of its features include generating meta tags automatically, supports CMS-style WordPress installations, and is really easy for new users since all you have to do is to install the plug-in.

4. Dean’s Permalink Migration – If you ever decide to redesign your website or blog, the Dean’s Permalink Migration plug-in ensures your users who click on old URLs that they will be directed to the new site with the actual page in it. They, along with search engines, won’t be directed to those annoying 404 pages which will definitely save you your traffic.

5. Feed Statistics – You want your readers to see how many people enjoy and connect to your blog, right? Feed statistics works by allowing you to use a nice widget that display stats on the sidebar. You as the user can also use Feed statistics to check how many people have subscribed, what reader they are using, what links they click on, and even subscriber info.

6. Socialize This – This is a WordPress plug-in in which you can put “share this” links at the bottom of your blog entry. You can choose from many icon sets and can choose what order to arrange them in.

7. WordPress Database Back-ups – This is a very useful plug-in in which your data will be backed-up in the event of a server crash. You can download copies of your database manually or set it to automatically send the data to your email. This is one of the most useful plugins in this list.

8. WordPress Related Posts – This is a nifty WordPress plug-in that displays a number of related posts or articles below a particular blog entry. It’s a great plug-in if you’re looking to increase your SEO rankings even more.

9. Subscribe to Comments – This is a nice plug-in that allows users to receive upcoming comments after leaving theirs on a particular blog entry.

10. All-in-one Cufon – For those who would like to improve the look and feel of their site or blog can use All-in-one Cufon, a plug-in that allows the user to choose from a variety of image replacements, fonts, and the like through every browser that uses Javascript.

There are thousands more plugins that are available that will make your blog or website an amazing place for your readers and yourself. Try installing them on your WordPress blog and prepare to amaze and to be amazed.