I run several blogs and the plugin needs for each vary depending on niche and audience. However, there are five plugins that I find myself ALWAYS using.

Akismet-This plugin is always part of the default WordPress install. It is great at weeding out most of the spam. You will need an API key from wordpress.com but [...]

It just hit me that other wordpress galleries don’t ask for permission to highlight and recommend wordpress themes. So why should I? It’s free advertising for wordpress theme creators and it isn’t like I’ll be offering their themes for download through my own blog or modifying it. A couple of the designers I contacted said [...]