I use WordPress a lot these days. One main reason is the endless number of plugins. There are almost 20,000 listed for free on the WordPress site alone. There is also hundreds of “premium” pay for plugins. It allows me to easily provide a lot of functionality for my clients easily and cheaply. Here are some of my favorites:

Contact Form 7

A staple. This plugin allows you to easily create and place forms anywhere on your site using a bit of shortcode. It is very widely used and there is a lot of documentation out there for trouble shooting and customizing for your needs. It also allows you to do an infinite number of different forms on your site collecting different information for each. Whether you want to use text fields, check boxes or radio buttons to collect information, it’s all possible with this plugin. The creator also seems to update the plugin frequently to remain compliant with the newest version of WordPress. Free on the WordPress.org site.

WP Easy Columns

Another free plugin from on the WordPress.org site. This one is is really useful when organizing a lot of information on your website. It quickly gives you shortcode for creating a long list of different column arrangements. In visual mode when editing your post it gives you a shortcut button that brings up the admin panel on the right and automatically drops in the shortcode for the arrangement you want. Very easy to use and helps your content look great!

underConstruction

Another free one. This plugin is great and very easy to use. Activate the plugin when developing a new site or doing maintenance to your site. When you are logged in as admin you still see the site as it typically looks but anyone else who visits your site sees the under construction/maintenance page. One of my favorite features of this particular under construction plugin is the ability to do a quick, custom page using HTML instead of using a default style. As a designer, it allows me to customize the look and feel a bit more to the clients branding. After development is done and the site is up and running, just change the text to provide a nice, clean maintenance page. Very handy.

Subscribe 2

This plugin allows you to place a subscribe field anywhere on your site with a bit of shortcode. Works really well to bring people back to your site by notifying subscribers every time  a new post is created. One of my favorite features of this plugin is the added ability to reach out to your subscribers via email. Very nice, easy, free way to provide a little email marketing for your clients. You can also export the email list for use in another email marketing tool like Mail Chimp or Campaign Monitor.

Cart66

Not free, but powerful. See my review [click here].

I use a lot of other plugins on a pretty regular basis, but these are my favorites because of ease of use, the frequency with which I need the particular functionality they provide, or the features they provide.