Between designing WordPress blogs and websites, and providing training and support, I have used and been exposed to a lot of hosting services, themes and plugins. I’ve found great products, good products and a lot of crappy stuff.
From experience I have consistently recommend these products to my 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 coffee fund (use to be gas, but you know how that is). If you enjoy this site 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 some of my workshops and cool videos 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.
WordPress Security
Products: WPSecurityLock
Why I love them: Regina and her team do awesome work. It’s that simple. I have not only used them personally, but have recommended them to clients several times. And each time they come back with a huge “thank you”. Whether you are looking for ongoing help, or are in desperate need to get your “hacked” website back to normal, they will help. Check out all their products and services that they offer to help you keep your WordPress site safe and secure.
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 this site, 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. The variety of child themes for Genesis is great. Using a child theme allows you to be able to customize your site without touching the core theme. The choice of layouts and “Genesis” custom widgets, give you great flexibility for your website or blog.
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. The options you get in the backend are intuitive and easy to understand.
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 my videos, or heard me speak, I am always saying, backup, backup, backup. BackupBuddy is an all-in-one solution for backups, restoration, and migration. You can use free plugins for these separate pieces, but this one gives you peace of mind that everything is done in one swoop!
Product: Gravity Forms Plugin
Why I love them: I have used a lot of free contact form plugins over time, and struggle with the fact they can quit working and sometimes you never know it till 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 great features for a form management plugin.
Product: WPtouch Pro Plugin
Why I love them: This is my favorite of all the mobile plug-ins for WordPress. It offers a great-looking and customizable app that supports all the major mobile browsers. You can even add less popular browsers through the excellent WPtouch Pro documentation. There is a free version – but it’s definitely worth investing in one of the premium licenses.
Product: Premise
Why I love them: You can quickly and easily create 6 critical landing page styles in WordPress, add visual flair with included custom graphics, and control fonts, colors, and styles without code. And it has a great membership module as well that makes it so easy to turn your site into a membership based site.
Product: Ebooks by Ron and Andrea – WordPress Network Sites and Multiuser
Why I love them: Ron and Andrea know all there is to know about multiuser. If you are starting out and want to use it to create a network for you WordPress blogs, or are planning on using BuddyPress, these books will guide you step-by-step to get the best results. To add to their credibility, Ron is the core developer at WordPress who merged WordPress and WordPress MU, and Andrea is a moderator on the WordPress forums and forum co-manager at StudioPress.
