As I’ve traveled on my journey from newbie to award-winning blogger, I’ve come across a select few tools that have made my life easier.
And in our WordPress design and training business, we consistently recommend these products to our clients because: 1) We have personal experience with them 2) We know they work seamlessly; and 3) We trust the people who make them.
I will never recommend a product that I don’t stand behind 100 percent.
I know firsthand that they are reliable, affordable and value-driven. Because I’ve used them, for myself, for my clients or both. I recommend them because they have helped me grow my business.
If you click on one of the links and purchase a product, I will get a small commission. I like to call it my blogger’s coffee fund. If you enjoy this blog and find you need one of these products, I’d appreciate it you used a link to make your purchase.
It won’t cost you one penny extra and it will help me keep this blog free.
Here they are, the products I stand by:
Blog and Website Domain Hosting
Products: BlueHost and HostGator
Why I love them: There are many hosting services that work well with WordPress, but BlueHost and HostGator are at the top of my list. They have unlimited domain hosting, gigabyte hosting space, gigabyte file transfer and email accounts. Your domain is free forever. Both have a 99.9% network uptime guarantee and 24/7 support, they’re WordPress-friendly and they have one-click install.
Premium WordPress Themes
There are tons of premium themes out there. The list can be overwhelming. I’m including only the ones I’ve had a positive experience with.
Product: Headway Themes
Why I love them: Both Cat’s Eye Writer blog and my other business, Savvy WordPress, are built on this theme, so I’m biased. But since switching from Typepad to WordPress and installing the Headway theme, I couldn’t be happier. My traffic is up, I’m getting more subscribers and more readers are engaging with me in the comments section. Headway is flexible which means that do-it-yourselfer’s and developers alike can easily customize it. It has its own support forum and you can also get help from Headway Hub and Headway Video.
Product: Studio Press Themes
Why I love them: We’ve used their themes for several client projects. The Genesis theme is awesome, whether you’re a novice or a developer with advanced skills.
Product: iThemes
Why I love them: iThemes has a huge variety of specialized blog themes for business owners, designers and photographers. Their iBuilder theme, although still incredibly flexible, is better suited to developers who have advanced skills.
Product: WooThemes
Why I love them: We have also used WooThemes on several of our clients’ projects. They have an outstanding selection, from simple designs to more complex, magazine-style layouts.
Premium Plugins
There are literally hundreds of plugins out there that are free. And many of them are incredibly useful and rely on donations. But there are some premium plugins that we have found well worth the money. Check them out.
Product: BuddyBackup Plugin
Why I love them: If you have watched enough of the videos on the bobwp.com site, or heard Bob speak, he is always saying, backup, backup, backup. BackupBuddy is an all-in-one solution for backups, restoration, and migration.
Product: Gravity Forms Plugin
Why I love them: I have used a lot of free contact form plugins over time, and struggled with the fact they can quit working and sometimes you never know it until it’s too late. Gravity Forms is worth the money. If you depend on your forms and use them in a variety of ways, this plugin is for you. It’s flexible, easy and has a number of outstanding features for a form management plugin.
