WordPress is a great blogging platform and the best part of it is that you can customize it as much as you can, without any programming knowledge, thanks to the plugin system. WordPress by default is ok but after you install it, you really need some additional features just to make your life easier and your work smooth. In this article you can see 15 WordPress plugins which will help you enhance your blog.

WP-DB-Backup

WP-DB-Backup allows you easily to backup your core WordPress database tables. You may also backup other tables in the same database.

Disqus Comment System

The Disqus comment system replaces your WordPress comment system with your comments hosted and powered by Disqus. Disqus, pronounced “discuss”, is a service and tool for web comments and discussions. Disqus makes commenting easier and more interactive, while connecting websites and commenters across a thriving discussion community.

Login LockDown

Login LockDown records the IP address and timestamp of every failed login attempt. If more than a certain number of attempts are detected within a short period of time from the same IP range, then the login function is disabled for all requests from that range. This helps to prevent brute force password discovery. Currently the plugin defaults to a 1 hour lock out of an IP block after 3 failed login attempts within 5 minutes. This can be modified via the Options panel. Admisitrators can release locked out IP ranges manually from the panel.

SEO Friendly Images

SEO Friendly Images is a WordPress SEO plugin which automatically updates all images with proper ALT and TITLE attributes for SEO purposes. If your images do not have ALT and TITLE already set, SEO Friendly Images will add them according the options you set. Additionally this makes the post W3C/xHTML valid as well.

All in One SEO Pack

Automatically optimizes your WordPress blog for Search Engines (Search Engine Optimization).

TAC (Theme Authenticity Checker)

TAC stands for Theme Authenticity Checker. Currently, TAC searches the source files of every installed theme for signs of malicious code. If such code is found, TAC displays the path to the theme file, the line number, and a small snippet of the suspect code. As of v1.3 TAC also searches for and displays static links.

Polldaddy Polls & Ratings

The Polldaddy Polls and Ratings plugin allows you to create and manage polls and ratings from within your WordPress dashboard. You can create polls, choose from 20 different styles for your polls, and view all results for your polls as they come in. All Polldaddy polls are fully customizable, you can set a close date for your poll, create multiple choice polls, choose whether to display the results or keep them private. You can also create your own custom style for your poll. You can even embed the polls you create on other websites. You can collect unlimited votes and create unlimited polls.

SexyBookmarks

Though the name may be a little “edgy” for some, SexyBookmarks has proven time and time again to be an extremely useful and successful tool in getting your readers to actually submit your articles to numerous social bookmarking sites.

Contact Form 7

Contact Form 7 can manage multiple contact forms, plus you can customize the form and the mail contents flexibly with simple markup. The form supports Ajax-powered submitting, CAPTCHA, Akismet spam filtering and so on.

WP Super Cache

This plugin generates static html files from your dynamic WordPress blog. After a html file is generated your webserver will serve that file instead of processing the comparatively heavier and more expensive WordPress PHP scripts.

WPtouch

WPtouch automatically transforms your WordPress blog into an iPhone application-style theme, complete with ajax loading articles and effects, when viewed from iPhone, iPod touch, Android, Palm Pre, Samsung touch and BlackBerry Storm/Torch mobile devices.

Broken Link Checker

This plugin will check your posts, comments and other content for broken links and missing images, and notify you if any are found.

Google Analytics for WordPress

Track your WordPress site easily and with lots of metadata: views per author & category, automatic tracking of outbound clicks and pageviews.

Faster Image Insert

Fully integrates media manager into editing interface, avoid reloading thickbox pop-up, with enhanced features like multi-insert & mass-editing.

Drop Caps

Drop Caps increases the readability of your posts through the addition of a stylish drop cap at the beginning of every first paragraph. You can also add drop caps to comments and excerpts. The plug-in comes with a default style sheet, but you can change the CSS as needed.

Popup Domination

Create beautiful, high-converting popups which will help you promote a product directly to your readers.