This is a brief overview of the top 7 essential WordPress plugins that I install on all client sites – and I hope this helps YOU when determining what plugins to use for your site. Keep in mind that I prefer to have clients limit their chosen plugins to 10 to ensure that your site is loading quickly.
1 – All-in-One SEO
A great SEO ranking is earned by having content that is keyword rich and useful for your audience – and using this plugin helps achieve that in a couple of ways. By asking you for your site’s title and description, it in effect is helping you create the “30 second elevator speech” for your blog – distill your mission down to its essence and use it as your site description. Invest some time in keyword research for your site (I do this for all client sites) and add those keywords in the All in One SEO settings.
2 – BackUp WordPress
Back Up WordPress should be installed first thing on ANY WordPress site. It’s a simple 5 minute install, and configuring takes about 30 seconds. So there is no excuse to NOT have this one to protect your content and settings.
3 – Google Sitemap Generator
Want Google to find you? Well here is the easy way to do it – use this plugin to generate a Google friendly sitemap to help you get your blog indexed.
4 – Exclude Pages
Though WordPress does have the option of having Public, Private or Password protected pages – I prefer to use this very lightweight plugin that adds a check box under the Categories panel in the page editor.
5 – My Page Order
Again, though WordPress has the ability to order pages by numbers you assign, I prefer this simple drag and drop option that easily moves pages around without having to renumber them or remember the numbering sequence.
6 – Share This or SexyBookmarks
Adding a sharing plugin that offers readers a one-click way to share your posts is always a great idea.
7 – Twitter Tools
Integrating your blog feed and your Twitter account is a great way to make sure that both your blog readers and your Twitter followers are notified whenever you post on your blog. And fresh content means better search engine rankings 
You always provide such practical information, Jill. Thanks for sharing!
Oh – love that back up is #2 – it is so important to have back up of your on line content and so many people forget this step when setting up their WordPress site/blog.
As with all things digital, it’s not a question of if something will go wrong, but a question of when – be prepared and remove the risk. That means that if you’re reading this and don’t know if your WordPress site is backed up – contact Jill ASAP!
Thank you Jill for these awesome tips!