As a compensation I am going to explain my rationale for removing Snap Shots plugin. First, Snap Shots uses JavaScript to display the snapshot of the url you’re about to visit. And the script being used doesn’t actualy reside on your server but resides in Snap Shots server(s) instead, which means that your browser needs to retrieve the script from their server(s) for the Snap Shots to function properly. As a result, your blog now becomes dependant on those servers. Experienced Google uptime glitch lately? What if Snap Shots servers were down? then your blog will be crippled without Snap Shots. Although at least not paralyzed.

Well to help you better picture the former explanation, lets take a simple example. Say you wish to rent a costume for a Halloween party but your favourite costume rental shop was closed due to unknown circumstances. As a result you wouldn’t able to show up to the fullest without the costume that you’ve planned before. I’m sure you would feel “crippled”. The same notion for blog.

Having said that, bloggers can still benefit something from Snap Shots as explained in my other post, provided the former case doesn’t occur often. So if you’re a new blogger, hope this post can help you make your decision.

Essential

Akismet
This plugin is definitely the most popular one for filtering spam comments. For senior bloggers, they definitely need this as their blogs are becoming more popular and spammers are becoming eager to “sneak” into their site by submitting bogus comments. These spammers nowadays have become smarter and more sophisticated.

All in One SEO Pack
The purpose of having my own blog is to publicize the blog as much as possible to the readers out there and we are talking about millions readers out there. And this definitely helps optimise your blog entry to be search friendly by search crawlers like Google, Yahoo, and MSN. Wonder what SEO means? Check our friend wiki.

Google XML Sitemaps
This plugin will generate a sitemaps.org compatible sitemap of your WordPress blog which is supported by Ask.com, Google, MSN Search and YAHOO. This is also one option to promote your SEO goal and has several helpful settings too.

Recommended

FD Feedburner Plugin
This is used to redirects all feeds to a Feedburner feed. Feedburner is a service provided by Google to help track subscribers to your feed. You need to register to Feedburner before you can use this plugin.

Google Analytics for WordPress
If you are Google Analytics user, then this plugin is a must to help you track your visitors. The advantage of having this plugin is that this plugin adds Google Analytics with extra search engines and automatic clickout and download tracking to your WordPress blog.

Secure and Accessible PHP Contact Form
Do you want your readers to be able to communicate with you privately? This plugin is the answer as it provides a powerful yet easy-to-install contact form features exceptional accessibility and usability while still providing extensive anti-spam and anti-exploit security features. A marriage of communication and peace-of-mind.

WP-PostRatings
This is just a tool for your good readers to participate in your blog – how they like your posts. Rating helps you identify whether that specific post is favourable. Hint: find out your readers’ likings.

Yet Another Related Posts Plugin
This plugin returns a list of related entries based on a unique algorithm for display on your blog and RSS feeds. This helps promote more page hits to your internal pages. Spice your readers into reading more of your posts.

Optional

Google Syntax Highlighter for WordPress
Aha! This is only applicable if you’re a software developer and wish to include your code inside your post. Google Syntax Highlighter definitely help beautify the look of your ugly code.

Snap Shots™ Plugin for WordPress.org
Snap Shots enhance links with visual previews of the destination site. This helps your readers stay longer in your site by taking a peek of the site before choosing to leave for another competitor site.

I hope this list is useful for you. I’ll be updating this post as I go along and find out more interesting plugins.

Signing off!