In this article, I want to share 7 very good WordPress Plugins that I have been using for sometime now and have found them very useful in a smooth running of my blog. I highly recommend you use them too.

1. Google Sitemap: Another simple but very useful plugin. It helps you to build sitemaps for your blog and submit them to Google in one click. Sitemaps are important if you care about Search Engine traffic. Use it once a week. I do. Get the plugin here.
2. Popularity Contest: This plugin, once installed will give a percentage score to each of your posts based on visitor impressions. It gives you as well as the public an idea of which posts in your blog are most popular. Further, you can also publish the posts in your sidebar under a Most Popular category. Handy navigation. The plugin can be downloaded here.
3. Site Unavailable: This is a simple plugin to put your site in maintenance mode. If visitors come to your site, it will flash a message “Site Under maintenance, please come after XX time. You can set the time. Showing off huh? Go here.
4. What Would Seth Godin Do: Honestly, I don’t know, but I would signup. Ah well, this plugin flashes a message either above your latest post or below it asking visitors to subscribe to stay updated. It works. I know it does. I will explain why in another post of mine. For now, you can get the plugin here
5. WP-DB Manager: This one helps you manage, optimize and run queries on your database. Useful indeed. Here. I am tired.
6. WP-Pools: By the way, have you taken part in the pool currently I am running? You outta do it. How about NOW? Oh I forgot, this is the plugin I use for running my polls. Easy and widget based. I downloaded it here.
7. aLinks: If you blog about Internet Marketing or if you are selling popular products as an affiliate, then this plugin is for you. I am amazed at why this plugin hasn’t become the talk of the town. In my opinion, it really is under utilized. I can actually write a separate article on the benefits of this plugin, but for now, in the words of the author “it is a WordPress plugin that automatically links keywords in your blog post”. Say, you are selling Product A and you want your link to appear automatically in your posts whenever you mention it. All you have to do is, configure aLinks with the name Product A and the link to it. Job done. Get it here.

The above are a few Plugins I use on all of my blogs. I am sure after reading their explanation, you agree with me why they are a good choice. Go ahead, download and use them.

Mr Althaf is a Professional Internet Entrepreneur and a passionate blogger. He shares more of his tips at http://www.myblogpost.com