If you’re one of the millions of WordPress users today, you’re probably thankful for the existence of plugins, those little chunks of code that enhance the functionalities of your blog. And yet these plugins don’t just serve the purpose of helping you keep your blog. Plugins can improve your visitors’ experience of your site, and some of them are even made specifically to help you make money blogging.

The only drawback about plugins is the fact that there’s so many of them lying around the blogosphere, and not all of them are necessary to the success of your site. But how will you know which plugins are worth installing and which ones are better off left on the shelf? Here’s a list of the best WordPress plugins that don’t just do the job – they do it very well!

1. Akismet A perennial favorite, Akismet is every WordPress blogger’s first line of defense against nefarious comment spam. This plugin effectively blocks bogus comments from infiltrating your comment box and clogging it up, making comment management an easier job for you.

2. All in One SEO Pack This tool raises your capacity to make money blogging by providing you with a whole suite of features that optimize your blog for search engines. The All in One SEO Pack takes the most significant page-ranking factors that affect your site’s search engine rankings, and lets you tweak with them to make your blog shine in search engine results.

3. WordPress 2.3 Related Posts Plugin Definitely a must-have, the WP 2.3 Related Posts Plugin ensures that each of your blog posts comes with a list of links to related posts. The list of links also show up in your feed, so that your feed subscribers can still discover your other posts on the same subject.

4. Lucia’s Linky Luv This tool does a great job of managing your comments, and is best known for its “dofollow” function. Essentially, this means that people who comment on your blog are automatically rewarded with backlinks, so that their blogs can benefit from your own sites’ page rank. However, it also enforces a “nofollow” rule on comments that are likely to be spam. Brilliant!

5. cformsII Finally, a plugin that gives your readers an effective and safe doorway through which they can contact you. cformsII is a neat plugin that lets your readers establish contact with you safely and securely. It boasts of an impressive set of features, and is even shielded against spam.

6. Tell a Friend The Tell a Friend plugin by Social Twist goes beyond the functionalities of your old “Bookmark/Email This!” button. Its scope isn’t limited to social bookmarking sites and e-mail services. Instead, Tell a Friend gives your readers the option to share your posts through instant messaging, your social networks, your own blog, and even through your personal content management system.

7. Google (XML) Sitemaps Generator for WordPress This nifty plugin automatically creates a sitemap of your blog in XML format, which is widely supported among search engines, particularly Google, Ask, and MSN Search. So what’s the big deal about this? When provided with a sitemap that outlines each URL within the blog as well as their corresponding metatags, a search engine spider can crawl through your site better and come up with more relevant search results as far as your blog goes.

If these plugins aren’t in your blog yet, what are you waiting for? While it’s true that your blog can do well just by providing quality content and information, the right combination of plugins can make your site more efficient and profitable.