If you run Wordpress then you will be happy you came across my latest post. First of all, I think anyone running a wordpress blog should have the following plugins below. Why you ask? Not only will some of these plugins improve your search engine rankings. Some will also help block and filter some of the spam coming in via comments and other things. All of these plugins have been tested on my web hosting provider using PHP5 and the latest version of Wordpress. Check them out, all are free to download, and none will hurt your blog!

1. WP Super Cache – This plugin is great for two reasons. First, it makes your pages load way faster. Second, since it stores static versions of your site, it requires much less CPU processing than using WordPress all by itself. This WordPress plugin is number one on the list for a reason.

2. HeadSpace 2: WordPress SEO Made Simple – Move over All in one SEO. There’s a new guy in town. HeadSpace provides you with the features you need to drive your site to the top. People spend way to much time working on SEO and too little time writing great content. This plugin let’s you put your focus back where it belongs. It takes care of all the SEO work that your blog will need.

3. Akismet – Akismet is the comment spam fighter that comes built into Wordpress and it does a mighty fine job. Activate this plugin and you won’t need to moderate or captcha your comment submissions. Akismet does 99% of the work for you.

4. Thank Me Later – This plugin is great. It sends an email to all first-time visitors. You can write up the email to remind them about your RSS feed or just to invite them to connect with you personally. I do both.