In my humble opinion WordPress is the best platform for building not only blogs but state of the art functional and interactive websites, this is made possible in no small way by the massive array of plugins available. I have been building websites using WordPress for some time now and I have compiled a small list of my favorite free plugins. There are lots of other plugins that I use on a daily basis but it would turn into a very long list and take a very long time to go through each one so I have just given you my top five.

1. Platinum SEO –

SEO can sometimes be forgotten in the process of creating a great looking website, Platinum SEO is an intuitive plugin, and it allows you to set you Title tags, Meta Description and Keywords for your default home page which is useful when using the Blog page as your home. You can also tailor your Title and Meta information for any other pages you create or you can choose to use the category and post title. I use this plugin for all my sites and I can’t recommend it enough.

2. WordPress Mobile Pack –

With mobile internet use rising it is more important than ever to make sure you have a well designed and functional Mobile site. WordPress Mobile Pack is by far the best mobile plugin I have come across.

3. Cute Profiles –

Social Media is an essential part of a website or blog, the Cute Profiles plugin lets you display all of your chosen social networks, in a line which scrolls with your page, you can choose the size of the icons and how far down the page you would like them to sit, you also have the option of either Grey until hovered over or colour. I have searched for a long time to find a really good social plugin and Cute Profiles is it.

4. WordPress e-commerce –

If you’re looking to create a site which is capable of accepting transactions through a range of shopping cart providers, then this plugin is perfect, it is a very easy to use but sophisticated e-commerce solution. There are many great features that come with this plugin including the ability to upload entire CSV files with product information and Facebook integration. If you are wanting a simple e-commerce solution this is great, if you want something a little more advance there are a selection of premium upgrades starting from as little as $40.

5. Fast Secure Contact Form –

If it’s important to give your readers/customers a simple way to contact you then you should be using the Fast Secure Contact Form plugin. This contact plugin includes a CAPTCHA support, multiple form features and lots of extra fields which you can create to fit your needs perfectly. You also have the option to redirect the user to any URL you want after they have submitted the form. I use this plugin for every website I create.

There are so many plugins available (12’799 at the time of writing this) on the WordPress .org site that I have not even made a dent in using and testing them, there may be other plugins that are even better than the ones I have recommended, if you have any suggestions please leave a comment with your recommendations.