As a new blogger like myself, it's important to grab some affordable tools to get things rolling. From hosting to plugin recommendations and themes!! Disclaimer: As an affiliate, I receive commissions from purchases made through these links.
Sections
6
Hosting & Builders
Wordpress Plugins
Blog Themes
SEO Tools
Marketing & Social
Design Resources
Hosting & Builders
For every blog, you need a hosting platform for your website to reside in. Below are recommendations for services that offer affordable hosting, domains, and support!
I personally use Green Geeks and their customer support is incredible!
GreenGeeks® | Fast, Secure and Eco-friendly Hosting
They have user-friendly features and reliable service and most often selected hosting for most bloggers!
Leading Web Hosting, Domain, & WordPress Provider | Unleash Your Website's Full Potential
I have used Go Daddy in the past and they offer great packages at a decent budget!
Squarespace is a great option with multiple pre-made templates to choose from!
Website Builder — Create a Website in Minutes — Squarespace
Another great hosting platform with budget friendly packages!
Hosting Services Crafted with Care - SiteGround
if you are looking to blog and have an e-commerce store, shopify is a great option!
Shopify - Start and grow your e-commerce business
I use wordpress every day for my blog and it's an easy to use platform even for beginners!
WordPress, Your Way
I use elementor on my blog and they offer great support and AI features to help with coding!
Create a Website - Elementor Website Builder for WordPress
I have been coding for a few years and code academy offers great resources to teach you how to code!
Learn to Code - for Free | Codecademy
If you need help with hosting, building or putting your blog together, check out fivver and hire someone to help!
Website Design Services - Design Your Own Website | Fiverr
Weebly is easy to use and afforable option for beginners and those with limited budget!
Weebly is the easiest way to create a website, store or blog
Wordpress Plugins
I use plugins on my blog to help manage certain things like social sharing, disclaimer policies and email sign ups!
Using a caching plugin will help optimize and speed up your website! I have been using WP Rocket for awhile and I get passing scores on pagespeed!
#1 WordPress Caching Plugin | WP Rocket
I personally use this plugin to optimize all my website images.
Short Pixel - Website Image Optimization
I use this social sharing plugin on my blog! I love the floating layout option and analytics it provides!
Social Warfare: The Ultimate Social Sharing Weapon
I use termly for disclaimers and policies on my website!
All-In-One Compliance
Solution for Small
Businesses
Handy plugin to organize recipes, pinterest pins etc.
WP Tasty - Handcrafted WordPress Plugins for Food Blogs
Integrate your social media feeds to your blog!
Smash Balloon: #1 Social Media Feeds Plugin for WordPress
This plugin is a great tool to keep your website safe!
WordPress Security Plugin | Wordfence
If you need to add code to your header or footer, this plugin is easy to use!
WPCode - The Best WordPress Code Snippets Plugin
I personally use this plugin on my blog to help find free stock images! I pulls images from pexels and unsplash.
One-Click Image Uploads for WordPress - Instant Images
Blog Themes
A collection of wordpress, shopify, and squarespace themes for bloggers and affiliates! Themes are a great way to style your blog without needed to code.
Gorgeous elementor themes with a feminine style!
Feminine WordPress Themes | Web Design + Development
Need a wordpress theme? This platform offers themes, builders, templates, plugins!
WordPress Themes & Website Templates from ThemeForest
I recommending wordpress themes that are prebuilt for bloggers who are beginners! No coding necessary
WordPress Themes | Creative Market
An elementor wordpress theme with a simple an elegant layout
ChicSavvy Elementor WordPress Theme
Such a fun and vibrant theme!
Jelly Bean Wordpress Theme Blog
If you are using shopify, check out this pretty theme!
Layers - Beauty Shopify Theme
I love the simplicity of this squarespace theme
Squarespace Website Template | Linen
A boho vibe for this elementor website!
Willa - An Elementor Pro Theme
A blog focused theme yet I love the style!
Lexi Theme • Genesis Child Theme
Another favorite from Pixie and Hue!
Brielle - Elementor Pro Theme
Affiliate ready theme for bloggers!
Emily Grace - A Blog & Shop Theme
SEO Tools
SEO tools have been a game-changer for me! With their insights and analytics, I've boosted my website's visibility and reached new audiences easily.
I use keywords everywhere to do keyword research and it can also integrate with chatgpt!
Online marketing research without breaking the bank
Ahrefs is another great tool to monitor keyword placement and more!
Ahrefs - SEO Tools & Resources To Grow Your Search Traffic
So many classes offered and tools to teach you SEO!
SEOBUDDY - SEO Tools to improve your online visibility
Another favorite! Semrush offers free tools that I use daily but also paid resources that will guide you in better practices!
Semrush - Online Marketing Can Be Easy
Need blog ideas? Answer the public helps generate blog ideas based on your niche!
Search listening tool for market, customer & content research - AnswerThePublic
Surfer offers seo tools, blog writting and AI assistance for your blog!
Surfer — SEO, simplified.
RankIQ is helps with seo research and content writing at the same time!
RankIQ - The AI-Powered SEO Toolset for Bloggers
I use Google Site Kit on my site and it allows me to quickly see ranking keywords and other analytics in my Wordpress dashboard!
Site Kit by Google – Analytics, Search Console, AdSense, Speed
A free resource to check your meta titles
Headline Analyzer
Marketing & Social
When you start a blog, social media and marketing are crucial to drive traffic and build an audience! These tools help streamline that process!
I use tailwind daily to help generate Pinterest Pins and traffic to my blog!
Tailwind Social Media Management Tool | Create, Schedule & Optimize
Great plugin to track affiliate links!
Lasso - Affiliate displays that increase your earnings
Easy to use platform to manage your emails, newsletters and campaigns!
Turn emails into revenue | Mailchimp
I use beacons to add a link to my social media profiles to include my blog and other links to make it easy and convenient for your audience!
beacons.ai - link in bio
Great tool to write blog posts, schedule social media posts across multiple platforms and collaborate on posts with others!
Planable | Social Media Collaboration Platform
Schedule your social media, published blog posts with HooteSuite
Social Media Marketing & Management Dashboard - Hootsuite
Helpful grammer tool to use for writing in your blog, emails, etc
Grammarly
Always good to have business cards on hand to promote your blog at events or socially! Moo.com has a ton of well designed options!
Custom Online Business Printing & Design | MOO US
Design Resources
A list of recommendations to help with creating graphics, designs, and finding stock photography and videos for your blog and social media accounts!
I use Canva every day to create graphics for my blog and socials!
Canva: Visual Suite for Everyone
A canva alternative that offers tons resources for graphic design!
Create Presentations, Infographics, Design & Video | Visme
iStock offers a variety of sotck images, vector icons, video and more!
Stock Images, Royalty-Free Images, Illustrations, Vectors and Videos - iStock
A variety of editorial type of stock photos!
Get creative with stock photos and videos from Alamy
Creative market not only has stock images but resources for web, templates, social media and more for content creators!
