Almost all WordPress plugins are free. There’re a few specialized ones you have to pay for, but unless you’re out to make money with your blog you will probably never even hear about them.

However, remember that every plugin you install is a drain on your web server and slows down the blog a little bit for your reader, You want to take advantage of what’s available that will really help you and your readers, without installing even the Kitchen Sink plugin.

Here’re my votes for the most useful ones:

Add to Any — lets readers subscribe to your blog with an RSS reader. If you don’t know what that is, don’t worry about it. But use this plugin anyway. It will help those of your readers who do use an RSS reader.

Akismet — blocks comments that look like spam and gives you the opportunity to review the others before publishing them. A must-have for every blog.

All in One SEO Pack — if you hope to get free traffic from the search engines, use this plugin. If your blog is just for friends and family, you don’t need it.

CommentLuv — encourages commentators by giving them a link back to their blog.

Google AdSense Widget — allows you to put Google AdSense ads easily into your blog so you make some money. You must apply to Google for an AdSense account.

Easy Privacy Policy — Adds an Privacy Policy to your website including the language Google wants included if you have AdSense ads displayed. This probably sounds like unnecessary eagle beagle bureaucracy and for most of us it is — but Google wants them.

MaxBlogPress Ping Optimizer — Every time you publish a post or revise a post, WordPress sends outs pings to sites such as Technorati to let them know you posted new content. What if you keep making changes to your post, especially in the beginning when you’re not familiar with the setup? If those sites get too many pings from you they think you’re a spammer and delete your site from their listings. You don’t want that. This plugin prevents excess pings.

WP Security Scan — Performs security scans of your installation. Unfortunately it’s necessary. Some people have nothing better to do with their lives than to break into other people’s sites and blogs.

WP-DBManager — backs up and optimizes your WordPress database.

WordPress Mobile Edition — I got this so that people can read my blog on a cell phone. It’s a pain in the neck, because it does not have a familiar or automatic installation. Next time it’s upgraded I’m deactivating it. But until then you can read my blog with your cellphone.
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