Here are the tools that made me successful with my online businesses. These are all highly recommended and have all been used by me at some point during my career. By signing up to one of the services/tools listed below I may receive compensation but you’ll help support me by creating more useful content.
I break down the recommended services into these categories. To jump to the section, click on one of the links.
Web Hosting & Email
Your choice in a web hosting provider is the cornerstone of starting your blog. It’s important to pick wisely as saving a few dollars in web hosting can be pennywise but pound foolish.
Larry's Take
If you're just starting out and looking for a low-cost, no-frills web hosting provider, Bluehost is your best option. They give you a free domain name for the first year and have a one-click WordPress install. You'll be up and running with your blog in no time.
| Price | $3.95 - $13.95 per month |
|---|---|
| Promotion | Get A Free Domain Name |
Larry's Take
WP Engine is my go-to web hosting company when I create a WordPress blog. Unlike many other providers, WP Engine specializes only in WordPress hosting. But that means you'll have to look elsewhere if you want a host for your email as well. WP Engine has many features specific to WordPress, such as caching. Plus, a content delivery network (CDN) is automatically included. If you're looking for a reliable and fast hosting provider for your WordPress blog, WP Engine is your choice.
| Price | $21 - $203 per month |
|---|---|
| Promotion | Get 5 Months Free |
Larry's Take
Linode is the perfect cloud provider for the DIYer with advanced hosting needs. I've used Linode for more than eight years and currently host most of my content with the service. I've experienced very little downtime. Linode offers basic virtual private servers (VPSs, load balancers, and block storage. Plus, with their premade images, you can be up and running very quickly with a new VPS. Check Linode out.
| Price | $5 - $4,000 per month |
|---|
Larry's Take
Namecheap is an ICANN-accredited domain name registrar. It lets you do exactly what its name suggests: buy a domain name cheap. You can buy a ".com" address for as little as $8.88 per year. Namecheap has great 24/7 customer service that can help you get set up at any time of day or night. The company also offers hosting services, but you might want to check out some of my other picks instead.
| Price | $1.49 - $2,098 / domain / year |
|---|---|
| Promotion | .COM only $8.88 |
Larry's Take
I prefer Google's Workspace over Microsoft 365 (although I use that too). As a blogger, I'm always online. I like Google Docs and Google Sheets, and Gmail is second to none. Google's anti-spam filtering works really well, and there are now many third-party plugins and options for extending Workspace.
| Platform | Cloud |
|---|---|
| Price | $6 - $18 / user / month |
| Promotion | The first 14 days are free |
Link Shorteners
It is best to manage your affiliate links in one central location than to manually insert each affiliate link on your website. Affiliate links can change often and outdated links can cost you thousands of dollars in lost revenue.
Also using an affiliate link manager allows you to cloak links so they are cleaner plus allow for conversion tracking. It’s highly recommended you start off using one of these services today before placing any affiliate link on your website.
Larry's Take
In my opinion, ClickMeter is the best link-shortening service available. That's not to say it's perfect, because its functionality could stand some improvement. Still, ClickMeter is a reliable and easy-to-use service. If you're looking to track conversions and integrate with your blog, ClickMeter is your best option.
| Platform | Cloud |
|---|---|
| Price | $19 - $3,990 per month |
Larry's Take
While not as advanced as ClickMeter, Pretty Links is a cheap and easy-to-use affiliate tracking system for someone just starting out. You can use it for as little as $49 per year.
| Platform | WordPress |
|---|---|
| Price | FREE - $129 per year |
| Promotion | Save Up To $70 |
Larry's Take
A link shortener that’s simpler than Clickmeter and cheaper as well. It should be used primarily for link sharing and not affiliate tracking/conversions. If you need to track social media links, PixelMe is a great alternative to Bitly.
| Platform | Cloud |
|---|---|
| Promotion | 7-day Free Trial |
Email Marketing Providers
Even though email isn’t as popular today as it has been previously, it is still one of the best ways to stay engaged with your audience. I recommend creating a mailing list immediately.
Check out my head-to-head comparison of ConvertKit vs. ActiveCampaign to see which is better.
Larry's Take
My mailing list provider of choice, ActiveCampaign has everything you want, from starter email marketing to advanced automation. My biggest complaint about this service is that you can get many features only by purchasing a higher-tier plan. Also I do wish that, instead of a newsletter-style format, the email editor allowed you to send emails that looked like you personally sent them. ConvertKit offers this feature. However, if you want to automate anything, you can do it in ActiveCampaign.
| Platform | Cloud, WordPress |
|---|---|
| Price | $9 - $599 per month |
| Promotion | Get 50% Off First Two Months |
Larry's Take
ConvertKit is a great platform for bloggers. It has a free plan for the first 1,000 but can get more expensive than competing email providers. If you are looking to do complex automation, ConvertKit lacks functionality compared with other services like ActiveCampaign. On the positive the emails they send out can look exactly like a personal email, which more than likely wind up in the user's inbox than spam.
| Platform | Cloud, WordPress |
|---|---|
| Price | FREE - $4,299 per month |
| Promotion | Create A Free Account |
Landing Page Software
With any web site, you need to build your audience of visitors to your mailing list and promotions.
Larry's Take
If you are looking for a WordPress landing page, this is the one I recommend. It has many integration options, and many premade professional-looking landing page designs. It is a much cheaper option than using a service like ClickFunnels.
| Platform | WordPress |
|---|---|
| Price | $99 - $199 per year |
Lead Generation Software
Increase your audience by using any of these products.
Larry's Take
If you are looking for a great service that not only works with WordPress but SaaS apps, then OptinMonster is your choice. It has many templates to use and allows you to easily create your own customized form so it matches your brand. OptinMonster supports 6 different types of campaign types that can not only be used for Email forms but can be used in conjunction with your own products.
| Platform | Cloud, WordPress |
|---|---|
| Price | $14 - $80 per month |
| Promotion | Save Up To 60% Off |
Larry's Take
Deadline Funnel is a unique service that I recommend adding to any sales funnel. It allows you to create true limited-time offers that are hard to circumvent. You can entice your audience with promotions to engage now. Deadline Funnel supports web page and email countdown timers unique to the visitor. It integrates with many popular email services and is a must-have tool. The only downside is the monthly cost.
| Platform | Cloud |
|---|---|
| Price | $49 - $199 per month |
| Promotion | Try It For Free For 14 Days |
Larry's Take
VWO Engage (previously called PushCrew) when it first came out was a great push notification service. Though as the years have gone by I now recommending OneSignal. Not only because of the pricing but the feature set as well.
| Platform | Cloud |
|---|---|
| Price | $99 - $252 per month |
| Promotion | Try Free For 30-Days |
Analytics
You cannot improve what you do not measure. These tools help track the source of your traffic and how visitors use your website.
Larry's Take
It's my go-to tool to improve conversion rates. Crazy Egg is a service that creates heatmaps and records visitor sessions. You can use this information to improve your user experience.
| Platform | Cloud, WordPress |
|---|---|
| Price | $24 - $249 per month |
Larry's Take
Woopra is the analytics tool I recommend to all of my clients. It integrates with many services out of the box but has a robust API to add unsupported integrations. It allows you to track visitors via reporting tools at the aggregate level but also allows you to drill down to each individual session. The biggest issue is their $1,000 for many businesses and the lack of pre-made reporting templates.
| Platform | Cloud |
|---|---|
| Price | FREE - $999 per month |
Larry's Take
Get Google Analytics setup without having to worry about Javascript tags are set up correctly or if you are not accurately tracking all events for your blog. MonsterInsights makes setting up Google Analytics quick and easy.
| Platform | WordPress |
|---|---|
| Price | $199 - $799 per year |
| Promotion | Save Up To 70% Off |
Larry's Take
Increase conversions by monitoring website usagbe. Create heatmaps of visitors and video record tracking experience through your website. I personally prefer Crazy Egg for their heatmaps but prefer Hotjar for their video recordings.
| Platform | Cloud |
|---|---|
| Price | FREE - $989 per month |
| Promotion | Try It Free |
WordPress Themes
I’m a fan of using StudioPress Genesis Framework. It creates SEO friendly content that I use on all of my blogs.
Larry's Take
My recommended WordPress theme I use all on my blogs. While not the fastest WordPress Theme, it is very SEO friendly and has many pre-made child themes to use with your blog. While a version of it comes with WP Engine, the Genesis Pro version has all sorts of functionality including powerful Gutenberg blocks.
| Platform | WordPress |
|---|---|
| Price | $59.95 |
WordPress Plugins
Why reinvent the wheel with your WordPress based site, when you can download an existing plugin to make your website more useful. Keep in mind not all plugins are created equal. Unfortunately many free plugins are designed poorly (they are ahem free you know..).
I’m a big fan of paying for commercial WordPress plugins. While there are many great free plugins some of the best plugins available are commercial. Don’t be afraid to pay for a plugin. In most cases, the amount spent will save you time and/or generate more revenue in the long run.
Larry's Take
If you are looking to monetize via the Amazon Associates program then AAWP is the WordPress plugin you must use. It has the ability to not only create links to Amazon products but has the ability to create summary boxes that automatically update with description, images, and pricing. You can create product comparison pages easily as well.
| Platform | WordPress |
|---|---|
| Price | $39 - $299 per year |
Larry's Take
With SEO and users, page load time is important. Speed up your website by minifying your files and using a CDN with this plugin. WP Rocket is my recommend WordPress plugin to increase your blog's speed.
| Platform | WordPress |
|---|---|
| Price | $49 - 249 per year |
Larry's Take
A WordPress plugin that creates social media share buttons on your blog. The must-have plugin for social media links on your website. Creates social proof with counters for the popular social media platforms.
| Platform | WordPress |
|---|---|
| Price | FREE - $349 |
Larry's Take
Backups and security is a critical part of maintaining your WordPress blog. Don’t rely on your web hosting provider to make backups of your site! Make sure you are in control and have off-server backups. BlogVault is an easy to use back and malware security monitoring service.
| Platform | Cloud, WordPress |
|---|---|
| Price | $7.40 - $149 per month |
| Promotion | Start Your Free Trial |
Larry's Take
While I’m more a fan of Google’s Tag Manager, PixelYourSite is an easy-to-use plugin to adding tracking for your site. Perfect for tracking conversion and remarketing campaigns.
| Platform | WordPress |
|---|---|
| Price | $189 - $599 per year |
Larry's Take
A must-have WordPress plugin if you are sending out any emails from your blog. This plugin will avoid your WordPress emails from going into the spam folder.
| Platform | WordPress |
|---|---|
| Price | $39 - $299 per year |
| Promotion | Buy Now and Save Up To $150 |
Larry's Take
MemberMouse is a WordPress plugin that allows you to create a membership and subscription area. It has a pretty robust feature set but unfortunately has a monthly cost and cost per seat as your site grows. The membership area administration can be a little clunky but is functional. I personally prefer MemberPress but does not work as well with ThriveCart, so MemberMouse is the next best option.
| Platform | WordPress |
|---|---|
| Price | $39 - $299 per month |
| Promotion | 14 Day Free Trial |
Larry's Take
Make your WordPress blog into a learning management system (LMS). It is a drag and drop course builder that supports quizzes and drip-feed lessons. It makes it easy to create an online course.
| Platform | WordPress |
|---|---|
| Price | $199 - $369 per year |
| Promotion | Save $40 Off |
Larry's Take
Monitor and get alerts about events in WordPress. Keep a record for user changes, updates to plugins, and any changes to WordPress. A must have for any membership blog to audit changes and keep your site secure.
| Platform | WordPress |
|---|---|
| Price | $89 - $449 per year |
| Promotion | 14-Day Free Trial |
Larry's Take
Put your WordPress on autopilot. Similar to Zapier but installed as a WordPress plugin and gives you more access to services, plugins, and functionality not found with Zapier. A must for a WordPress membership site.
| Platform | WordPress |
|---|---|
| Price | FREE - $499 |
Larry's Take
A WordPress plugin that solves a specific problem with WordPress and SEO. Permalink Manager Pro allows you to modify any WordPress URL. This is perfect for times you want to test alternative URL structures without changing the entire blog. Test specific posts, pages and categorize to see if the URL change improves SEO.
| Platform | WordPress |
|---|---|
| Price | $55 per year |
SEO Tools
If a tree falls in the woods does it make a sound? One of the primary ways people will find your information is via search engines like Google. SEO or Search Engine Optimization is a way to research, monitor, and improve the ranking of the content you create.
SEO for bloggers is an important concept to understand. These blogging tools can shave off hours in manual research.
Larry's Take
A competing WordPress plugin to Yoast SEO, I find SEOPress is more lightweight and doesn't include unnecessary features and functionality. There is a free version but I recommend SEOPress Pro which includes structured data types, breadcrumbs, Google Page Speed, and URL rewriting.
| Platform | WordPress |
|---|---|
| Price | FREE - $39 per year |
Larry's Take
My go-to SEO research tool. I use this tool daily and I highly recommended it. There are too many features to count. If you are wanting to improve your SEO game you must get a tool like Ahrefs to do your research, monitoring and getting a feedback loop of if you are improving SEO over time.
| Platform | Cloud |
|---|---|
| Price | $99 - $999 per month |
Larry's Take
Mangools is a great alternative to Ahrefs for keyword research. They are not only cheaper but from my testing, I find to be more accurate results for search volume. Mangools not only includes a keyword finder (called KWFinder) but SERPChecker, SERPWatcher, LinkMiner, and SiteProfiler as well.
| Platform | Cloud |
|---|---|
| Price | $49 - $129 per month |
| Promotion | Start 10-day FREE trial |
Larry's Take
Surfer is a recent addition to my SEO tool chest. Surfer allows perform a technical SEO audit and compare your web page to competing sites. Compare things like the number of words, backlinks, and keywords and phrases used. Surfer saves hours of time that previous was a manual task you can get in a matter of seconds.
| Platform | Cloud |
|---|---|
| Price | $59 - $199 per month |
| Promotion | Start 7-day trial for $1 |
Shopping Cart Software
If you are selling services or products online you must have an online shopping cart of some sort. These shopping cart systems are flexible to handle either digital products or physical products.
Use ThriveCart or SamCart if you are selling digital products like courses, ebooks, or software. Use WooCommerce if you are selling physical products, though it can also handle digital goods.
Larry's Take
ThriveCart is a great shopping cart service for selling digital products. With bump offers, upsells, and down sells, ThriveCart has plenty of methods to increase your sales. It has a powerful affiliate program built-in so no need to purchase additional software. The biggest advantage over competing products is their one-time fee.
| Platform | Cloud |
|---|---|
| Price | $495 - $690 One-Time Fee |
| Promotion | Lifetime License Only $495 |
Larry's Take
If you are looking to sell digital products, then SamCart should be on your shortlist. While I do like their service, I don't like the possible high monthly fee. In addition, I'm not a fan of their affiliate system. For those reasons, I decided to choose ThriveCart over SamCart for my personal shopping cart. Though, more or less they are very similar. Your own needs may determine SamCart is a better fit for your business.
| Platform | Cloud |
|---|---|
| Price | $49 - $199 per month |
| Promotion | Try FREE for 14 Days |
Larry's Take
If you are using WordPress and want to sell physical products, you seriously consider WooCommerce. It has many third-party plugins and can be used to sell digital products as well. Though prefer ThriveCart and SamCart since that is their speciality.
| Platform | WordPress |
|---|---|
| Price | FREE |
Social Proof
One of the more powerful tips mentioned in the book “Influence” by Robert Cialdini is the use of social proof. Showing what others have done, shows to new visitors how valuable is your service.
Larry's Take
Alerts visitors of recent purchases by other visitors. Great social proof and FOMO from your visitors. Convert up to 300% more visitors into leads, demos and sales.
| Platform | Cloud |
|---|---|
| Price | $29 - $299 per month |
| Promotion | Start Your Free 14-Day Trial |
Larry's Take
Create an easy to use method to instill social proof with your visitors. It helps not only with visitors but displays in SERP with Google Ads which helps increase your CTR. Can install a widget on your blog to show your ratings.
| Platform | Cloud |
|---|---|
| Price | $199 per month |
| Promotion | 30-Day Free Trial |
Miscellaneous
I’ve always been about constant small the 1% improvements. Over time a 1% improvement every week, can yield huge gains after one year. Constantly improve your website and use some of the tools below.
Larry's Take
If you are hosting your own website you want the fastest possible web server. LiteSpeed is the best performing web server. LiteSpeed is easy-to-use and administer. It supports caching of web pages which is perfect for WordPress when using their plugin.
| Price | FREE - $92 per month |
|---|
Larry's Take
A macOS based application that allows you to video stream Facebook Live, YouTube Live, Periscope Restream.io, Twitch, or Switchboard. Perfect for training, or webinars with live guests for a professional presentation.
| Platform | macOS |
|---|---|
| Price | $20 - $40 per month |
| Promotion | Get Started For Free |
Larry's Take
Vimeo is a much better video hosting service than using YouTube. No ads and no recommend videos for others. Vimeo is great for membership sites and with the latest features great for VSLs (Video Sales Letters). Protect your content from others stealing it using their service.
| Platform | Cloud |
|---|---|
| Price | $7 - $75 per month |
| Promotion | Free 30-Day Trial |
