According to WordPress’ official download counter, the open-source blogging software has been downloaded more than 6.6 million times, as of this writing. Chances are, if you are running WordPress, your site has a lot in common with some other sites out there. And that raises an important question: How do you make your site stand out from the crowd?

One way, without labor intensive hacks, is by altering your website’s fonts.

If the default font in your WordPress installation is leaving you uninspired, and the concept of tweaking CSS files seems a bit too daunting, try the following WordPress plugins to dress up your design and have some fun.

Facelift Image Replacement (FLIR): FLIR for WordPress implements Facelift Image Replacement (FLIR) by Cory Mawhorter. It is in rapid development and at this time almost completely configurable from the admin panel. Several freeware fonts are provided with FLIR for WordPress. The plugin is SEO-friendly and only renders the image in the browser if JavaScript is enabled. HTML/XHTML code remains unchanged, leaving your head tags readable by search engines and the page readable by those without JavaScript. 

AnyFont: AnyFont allows for the use of any truetype or opentype font for post titles, menu items or anywhere else you want to use a custom font in your theme design. The plugin supports both PHP4 @ GD or PHP5 & Imagick or GD. A TinyMCE button has been added to the post/page editor in version 0.9, which allows you to insert some AnyFont-styled text into your posts and pages, too.

WP-Cufon: This plugin makes the process of implementing Cufon (an image replacement technique) into your WordPress blog an absolute breeze. Simply convert your font files and upload them into the plugins directory and you’re done. WordPress admins can even enable objects they want to replace in the WordPress Administration Menu. WP-Cufon is useful for both image replacement (e.g. replacing a logo with text) and SEO. http://bit.ly/dnttud

All-in-One Cufon: With All-in-One Cufon, you can replace standard fonts with whatever font you desire. The plugin automatically detects uploaded fonts, offers a preview of uploaded fonts, detection of the fontFamily parameter and provides an option to enable only those fonts you really want to use. http://bit.ly/9Kh64r

Font Burner Control Panel: Add any of the 1,000+ free fonts available on the Font Burner website (fontburner.com) directly to your WordPress theme. Find a font you like and simply enter the name into this plugin and your weblog headlines will be instantly transformed. This plugin is a great option if you’re seeking richer typography but do not know how to use sifr or Flash. http://bit.ly/c2FPg2

Typekit Fonts: This plugin allows for the embedding and use of Typekit fonts in your WP or WP MY website without having to edit the theme. Typekit offers a service that allows you to select from a range of hundreds of high quality fonts for your WordPress installation. The fonts are applied using the font-face standard, so they are standards compliant, fully licensed and accessible. To use this plugin you need to sign up with Typekit, install this plugin and then either configure some Typekit selectors or define your own CSS rules.