Resources

As our site continues to grow we get more readers asking where are we hosted, what theme are we using, what plugins on so on. I thought it would be helpful to create a resource page that you can always come to for everything you need to run a successful blog. I’ll add to it as I learn more. I really recommend bookmarking this page for your reference and convenience. Enjoy!

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My Most Recommended

These are some resources that you should know about. I find myself recommending these again and again, in emails and in conversations. I use them because they make my life easier, and I’m confident you’ll agree too…

Plugins

No site is complete without the proper plugins, but finding them is not the easiest task. I myself have tried many, but the following were definitely worth my time and/or money:

  • Simple Author Box – Allows you to add responsive and beautiful author boxes at the end of your blog posts. Guest authors and co-authors are simply assigned using this plugin.
  • WP Reset – A plugin that gives you the chance to start fresh on your site through partial or full resets. Has the Emergency Script Feature which restores a site even in the worst of situations easily and quickly.
  • WP Sticky – Use this plugin to create as many sticky elements as you need without touching a line of code. Everything is picked visually and any element can become a sticky one.
  • Google Maps Widget – Need a map on your site? With this plugin, you can add one within 2 minutes. You aren’t limited on the number of maps nor the number of customizations you can make.
  • UnderConstructionPage – The perfect tool to craft under-construction pages using a drag-and-drop editor. Page templates are also included so no design skills are necessary either.
  • Coming Soon & Maintenance Mode – If your site is under maintenance, spice it up using a proper page. This plugin allows you to create one using a drag-and-drop builder, 2+ million images, 170+ themes, and its other great features.
  • WooCommerce Order Export – Order data exports become a piece of cake using this plugin. They can be scheduled, automatic, as well as custom, and delivered in CSV format.
  • WooCommerce Table Rate Shipping – With this plugin, your shipping fees will be calculated without any hassle or confusion. Plus, since it can apply special logged-in user rules, you get the perfect chance to reward those loyal to you.
  • WP 301 Redirects – No more broken links or 404 pages when using this plugin. All your links, redirects, and content will be monitored and automatic redirect rules implemented whenever necessary.
  • WP Force SSL – Make sure your site always has the green lock (configured SSL) and no mixed content errors by installing this plugin. All the tools and options you need to have good SEO and be trusted by your visitors packed into one plugin.

Hosting

We have hosted used a few hosting in the past, there as been good and bad experiences. We used to host with stablehost which is ok but what I have found having a few accounts with them is that my entire account constantly get wiped due to infections. This as been a huge nightmare over the years so I can no longer recommend them. So without further ado here is a list of the service I use and love:

  • Kinsta – They are the officially recommended, fully-managed WordPress hosting solution by Google Cloud Platform. Based on independent benchmark tests they are the best performing WordPress host on the market. All of their plans come with free SSL, CDN, one-click staging area, SSH access, PHP 7.1 and 7.2 support, full-page caching, 13 data centers to chose from and 24/7 global support by WordPress developers. If you need WordPress at scale, Kinsta is your solution.
  • Flywheel Managed WordPress hosting – They have been recommended by many bloggers across the web and for good reasons. I have many of my projects hosted with them and have never had any issues. Great service, blazing fast speeds, and INCREDIBLE customer service. Check em’ out, it is worth every penny.
  • Bluehost – This site was hosted there for a while before we upgraded to fully managed WordPress hosting (which I cannot highly recommend enough). If you are still on a budget, however, check out Bluehost. They are affordable, packed with tons of features, and will surely help your blog get off the ground.
  • LCN WordPress Hosting – Specialists in wordpress hosting.
  • Nestify improve your site loading speed with affordable managed WordPress hosting. Their platform helps WordPress and WooCommerce sites easily scale to serve millions of users per month. Nestify’s support team work with you to craft the perfect hosting solution.
    Check out our Full Review
  • HostGator – One of the cheapest and user friendly hosting providers. We have written a How to Start a Blog article featuring HostGator to demonstrate how simple the registration process is for beginners.

Themes

  • Flytonic Themes: — 10+Years Sales and services in affiliates theme. They specialize in Gambling themes along with top notch services.
  • Mythemeshop – They offer great value for money with a wide range of templates to choose from. Their theme is coded really clean which I love(I know this I am Theme developer also).
  • Themeforest– This is another great option to consider they are a marketplace with many different theme designs.  I have used many of their themes and the only thing I would say is sometimes the theme authors disappear meaning you will no longer get theme updates so maybe choose a theme author that as been there for some time.
  • Qode Interactive – Qode makes premium-quality multipurpose and niche themes for just about any sort of WordPress website you can think of. It has over 300 WordPress themes, excellent support, superb design and clean, beautiful code. Themes are easy to install and feature-rich, and include some excellent custom solutions.

Domains

  • 85ideas blog name generator – Generates business name ideas and checks domain availability.
  • InstantDomains – Instantly checks domain availability as you type.. it’s rapid!
  • Namecheap – I like NameCheap because they usually have low domain renewal cost.
  • Godaddy – I also use Godaddy because they offer great first time discounts, but any reputable domain provider should do.

Plugins

We will now look at some of the best plugins I use to create my WordPress sites.

  • WP Super Cache – A very fast caching engine for WordPress that produces static HTML files.
  • Yet Another Related Posts Plugin (YARPP) – Display a list of related posts on your site based on a powerful unique algorithm. Earn money by including sponsored content!
  • WordPress SEO by Yoast – Improve your WordPress SEO: Write better content and have a fully optimized WordPress site using Yoast’s WordPress SEO plugin.
  • Easy Social Share Buttons for WordPress – Helps your site to be more social, honestly this is the best social sharing plugin I have seen thus far.
  • WP Subscribe Pro – You will hear this often from other bloggers “I wish, I started a mailing list from the start.”. This plugin allows you to do just that and it is what we use.

Web and Logo Design

  • Tailor Brands – A logo maker and branding design platform. They provide a suite of automated branding and logo design tools that make it easy for small business on a budget to create a professional and unique brand identity.
  • LogoDesign.Net – An easy-to-use logo maker tool that helps businesses get their brands up and running in minutes. We offer customizable logo design templates that can be tailored according to the need. Our pocket-friendly logo maker enables quick editing and personalization of logo designs to create exquisite brands.

Email Marketing

You probably already know how important it is to have a mailing list to keep in touch with your site’s visitors and clients. These two products will facilitate your email marketing efforts by no small measure.

  • Mailchimp – My favourite newsletter (and now email marketing automation) management system, it handles everything from subscriber management, to newsletter drag and drop creation, to sending and producing statistics.
  • Snov.io – The must-have app, all-in-one tool to find emails, verify and send email messages. Great alternative to Hunter when it comes to prospecting B2B leads. Accurate results proven by thousands of daily users. Snovio made a great update and released a chrome extension in June 2018 which serves as an email verifier which verifies emails immediately in extension window, whilst you browse website.
  • SendPulse email marketing – These guys are fairly new on the scene, but they’re definitely worth checking out for simple and affordable email marketing with all the traditional features and advanced automation functionality like the Artificial Intelligence system that automatically maximizes email open rates and optimizes message sendings with hyper-personalization and predictive analysis for all the communication channels the platform offers: email, SMS, Web Push and SMTP. Their competitive pricing (free web push service, free plans for email and SMTP services allowing you to send 15 000 and 12 000 emails for free each month respectively) and unique features like multiple channels of communication make them stand out from the crowd.

**If you have any questions about any of these resources, please feel free to post a question on my Facebook Page at www.facebook.com/85ideas. **

Getting Started: How to Create a Successful Blog

If you are new to creating websites online, then check this post.

If you’re running a blog, here’s an article detailing how we managed to increase our subscribers. I am by no means an expert in this area but from my testing, you can check what I found.

Whatever you create online, needs to be backup so check out this collection of our most recommend backup solution.

If you want to start marketing your website right away, you will need help with that.

WPism: WPism is a WordPress resources website mainly focused on the business and marketing aspects of using WordPress. Find comprehensive guides and curated lists of themes, plugins, and other tools that can help you with all things WordPress.

And there’s plenty more of the latest updates on our blog…

…So stay tuned and come back again!