Everyone always tells you about the WordPress plugins you HAVE TO HAVE. I have found many lists dedicated to WordPress plugins. A lot of top five and top ten lists. Almost every time I find one of these lists, the same plugins are mentioned over and over again. WordPress has thousands (millions?) of plugins available. Why pay attention to so few? Here is my list of three plugins that might not get the glory - but they do their jobs!
1. MicroKid's Related Posts - This is a simple and effective related posts plugin. It simply adds a box under your Visual Editor. You can search this box for keywords and then it will bring up a list of your past posts that match those keywords. You can then click those to add links to them at the bottom of your current post. You ever read a blog post and at the end you see "If you liked that, you will like this..." and it links to other posts? This plugin does that better than any other one I have seen, and it lets you choose what posts to use. This plugin can really help to get people to stick around your site and increase your page views.
2. Cute Profiles - People love finding new ways to get their social profile buttons on their blog. They jam the header with blue twitter birds and Facebook logos. They might even use the sidebar to have a long list including everything from Digg to Friendster. I didn't want to use any of that prime real estate and this plugin was my solution. It simply generates a vertical row of social profile buttons on either the left or right hand side of your website. The row floats in the same area, even if people scroll down or up - so it is always visible. Best part is - it only takes up website space you weren't using anyways. It is also CSS coded - no javascript used.
3. AdSense Under Image - I know AdSense doesn't like you putting pictures that try and get people to click their ads. This plugin could definitely be misused. I use it properly though and have had no issues with AdSense. With this simple plugin I don't have to worry about placing my AdSense code. I just enter the code into the backend of the plugin and then every time I post a picture - my AdSense will be under it. To avoid getting in trouble for too many AdSense blocks - it only uses the first picture in a post. I have noticed a slight increase in my CTR since I began using this. I find it best to pair up a horizontal link only ad with this method.
Those are three plugins I can not personally live without. I use them all the time and on all my sites. I don't think they get as much love as other plugins like All-in-One SEO, Google XML Sitemaps or etc... But you have seen lists with those all the time. Hopefully this list will encourage you to check out some of those less talked about wordpress file manager. There are a ton out there - why not try a couple?