My Personal Blogging Toolkit
This list of tools represents vendors, services and plugins that I use and rely on daily. I have purchased or used everything listed on this page. These tools help me create the best possible content which improves the experience of the people I’m trying to help. They can save you dozens of hours per week, automate key marketing activities, and save you thousands of dollars on pricey freelancers.
My commitment to you is that I will always try anything I recommend first. I continually explore what’s needed to build the best possible online experience. I will test what works and what doesn’t. I’ll report back with recommendations for tools or services that I feel provide the best value for dollars spent.
Many of these links are affiliate links, which means I may get a commission if you purchase. That said, none of the fees of these resources have been increased to compensate me. In fact, many of the creators of these tools have given me special discounts that I get to extend to you! You’ll see all the special deals below. I hope these tools make it easier for you share your journey with the world.
WEBSITE HOSTING
Host Gator
Whether you’re starting out or have experience with the web, I recommend running your site on WordPress. This very site runs on WordPress and I rely on Host Gator to keep it running smoothly.
Whenever I need them, customer support is very responsive and knowledgeable.
EMAIL MARKETING
Convert Kit
ConvertKit is a powerful email service provider that delivers automation capabilities without the steep price. Collect leads, send out email broadcasts, connect with your community and allow your business to flourish with email marketing.
PAGE BUILDER
Elementor Pro
Everything that you see on this page and website was built using Elementor Pro. For me, the major advantage of the Pro version is the ability to use Elementor to manage your blog archives. You also get post, forms and many other features. Their support staff is world class and will quickly answer any questions you may have.
WEBSITE PERFORMANCE
WP Rocket
WP Rocket is a WordPress plugin that dramatically speeds up your website load times. It handles page caching, static file compression, cache preloading, and can even manage content delivery network settings automatically.
SOCIAL MEDIA SHARING
Social Warfare Pro
Social media is a huge driver of traffic and has become essential for building an audience. Social Warfare is a WordPress plugin that makes it easy for your readers to share your content. The share icons on left of this page are there because of Social Warfare Pro.
LANGUAGE TRANSLATION
ICanLocalize
When I decided to translate my website into multiple languages, I realized I would need help. ICanLocalize offers excellent cost-effective options ranging from human translators to their advanced machine learning system. The speed and quality of the translations have been second to none. My site would not be where it is without their help.
SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION
Yoast SEO
Yoast SEO is a WordPress plugin that makes it easier to create content that’s more readily found and indexed by search engines. The pro version features a content analyzer that helps improve your writing and keyword selection. It’s one of the most important parts of my blogging toolkit.
WEBSITE ENHANCEMENT
Ultimate Add-Ons for Elementor
I was experiencing slower page loading anywhere that I embedded YouTube videos. This was due to the various connections that the standard YouTube video widget makes. The enhanced video widget included with Ultimate Add-Ons has performance tweaks that speeds up video page loads by over 50% faster.
PASSWORD MANAGEMENT
LastPass
If you’re still committing passwords to memory or reusing passwords (most people do), it’s time to consider a password manager. It can securely generate passwords, save encrypted notes, and manage logins for all your accounts. They supply free browser plugins and mobile apps to ensure your passwords are always with you.
IMAGE COMPRESSSION
Imagify
Imagify is an image compression plugin for WordPress. Image compression helps your pages load faster which provides a better user experience. Before using it, I jumped through hoops to optimize my site’s images. Imagify now handles those tasks automatically.