Some of the most useful WordPress resources
we use every day
These are some of the resources we use in the studio every day, some have affiliate links.
Our plan is to provide you with detailed blog posts for each product. Only providing insight on products that I know well and that can add value to your WordPress project.
A mixture of free and 'paid-for' solutions (the time they save you will soon pay for themselves). All integrate well with WordPress. Some links are affiliate links.
WordPress Website Hosting
Flywheel Hosting
Managed WordPress Hosting. Dedicated WordPress hosting tailored to WordPress.
Siteground Hosting
Managed WordPress Hosting. Dedicated WordPress hosting tailored to WordPress.
Pressable Hosting
Managed WordPress Hosting. Dedicated WordPress hosting tailored to WordPress.
Liquid Web Hosting
Managed WordPress Hosting. Dedicated WordPress hosting tailored to WordPress.
Kinsta Hosting
Managed WordPress Hosting. Dedicated WordPress hosting tailored to WordPress.
Before you start - Website Planning
Content Snare
Managing content collation for your website project.
Process Street
A free and powerful way to manage your recurring checklists and procedures. Great for managing workflows and regular tasks.
Teamwork
Powerful project management software. Keep all your tasks and communications in one place. Perfect for collaboration projects where you need to be super organised.
Evernote
Available across desktop and mobile, Evernote is an easy to use note pad for any aspect of your website planning and content notes.
Gather Content
GatherContent is simple content collaboration software that helps you
organise and produce content before it's published.
Balsamiq
Balsamiq Mockups is a rapid wireframing tool that helps you Work Faster & Smarter. It reproduces the experience of sketching on a whiteboard, but using a computer.
Design and UX
Adobe XD
Adobe XD uses a super easy and efficient interface, provides prototyping tools for different platforms, including websites, mobile phones, tablets, and more.
Figma
Figma is a browser-based UI and UX design application, with excellent design, prototyping, and code-generation tools. With robust features which support teams working on every phase of the design process.
Invision
InVision is a prototyping tool created for designers, by designers. It allows you to quickly and easily create interactive mockups for your designs. When you're ready, you can share these mockups with your team or clients.
How to choose the right hosting for your WordPress website
There is an ever-increasing range of managed or dedicated WordPress Hosting options, where do you start?
Find out how to make that decision over on my article covering how to choose your WordPress hosting.
WordPress Themes
GeneratePress
GeneratePress is a fast, lightweight WordPress theme that is free to download, with a premium add on that makes this theme highly customisable.
Page Builder Framework
The Page Builder Framework is a free WordPress theme that is specifically made to work with a wide range of page builders. It is created for speed and flexibility.
Beaver Builder
BB Theme. Over 250,000 websites use the BeaverBuilder Theme and Themer.
Divi Theme
Used by designers and non-coders. A well supported premium theme with good documentation and support. Includes a visual drag and drop builder. The downside is that it adds shortcodes to your page so can be tricky to do a simple theme swap.
Astra Theme
Works well with Elementor page builder. Astra has both a free and premium option
Hello Elementor
A fast theme designed to work with the Elementor Page Builder plugin and Themer plugin.
WordPress plugin resources and easy integrations
Elementor
Live drag and drop page builder for WordPress. Free to download. Should work with most well designed themes.
Gravity Forms
A powerful premium form creation plugin that is secure and fast. Integrates well with many services such as PayPal, Stripe, Mailchimp, Zapier, Active Campaign to name a few.
The WordPress Multilingual Plugin
WPML makes it easy to build multilingual sites and run them.
It’s powerful enough for corporate sites, yet simple for blogs.
Beaver Builder Lite
Beaver Builder Lite is a flexible drag and drop page builder that works on the front end of your WordPress website. With Beaver Builder, building beautiful, professional WordPress pages is as easy as dragging and dropping.
WordPress Security
Sucuri has developed a great WordPress security plugin designed to complement your existing security controls. It's designed to be lightweight, easy to use while highly effective, addressing some of the biggest challenges website owners face like: auditing, integrity monitoring and basic hardening.
Updraft Backup
Hacking, server crashes, dodgy updates or simple user error can ruin your WordPress site. That’s why you need UpdraftPlus, the world’s highest-rated and most installed WordPress backup plugin.
iThemes Security
iThemes Security Pro takes the guesswork out of WordPress security. You shouldn’t have to be a security professional to use a security plugin, so iThemes Security Pro makes it easy to secure and protect your WordPress website.
Backup Buddy
With just a few clicks, BackupBuddy backs up your entire WordPress website from within your WordPress dashboard. BackupBuddy makes the process of how to backup a WordPress site into five simple steps.
Yoast SEO
Yoast SEO does everything in its power to please both visitors and search engine spiders. Yoast SEO is the original WordPress SEO plugin since 2008. It is the favourite tool of millions of users, ranging from the bakery around the corner to some of the most popular sites on the planet.
WP Forms
An intuitive drag and drop WordPress form builder allows you to create contact forms, online surveys, donation forms, and more in just a few minutes without writing any code.
Monster Insights
MonsterInsights makes it “effortless” to properly connect your WordPress site with Google Analytics, so you can start making data-driven decisions to grow your business. Simply put, get the stats that matter inside your WordPress admin.
BlogVault
BlogVault is a unique WordPress Backup and Security plugin. It automatically backs up your website. It provides easy management of every aspect of your WordPress site including Migration, Staging and Merging across multiple secure and robust servers.
WordPress Marketing Resources
CoShedule
The No.1 marketing calendar the can integrate directly into your WordPress dashboard. Plan, promote and execute your whole social media strategy from one place.
Optinmonster
Want to grow your email list. Lead generation software that integrates directly into your WordPress dashboard. Powerful A/B testing and quick to create lead capture forms.
Click Meter
ClickMeter Link Tracking. How many clicks on your links? Monitor, compare and optimise all of your marketing links in one place.
Loom Screen Recording
Quick videos everywhere you need them. You and your team already collaborate on documents, project planners, CRM’s, and learning management systems. With Loom, any video you record can be watched directly where it is shared.
Facet WP
Use FacetWP to add faceted search to your eCommerce sites, resource libraries, listing pages and more. Users find what they're looking for faster because only relevant filtering choices are shown. This leads to happier customers and increased sales
Tiny PNG image compression
TinyPNG uses smart lossy compression techniques to reduce the file size of your PNG files. By selectively decreasing the number of colours in the image, fewer bytes are required to store the data. The effect is nearly invisible but it makes a very large difference in file size!
WordPress Starter Themes
_Underscores
Bones
Sage
Quark
HMTL5 Blank
JointsWP
Local Develpment Environments
MAMP
Local by Flywheel
Desktop Server
Bitnami
FREE Guide. How to get started with your WordPress Website.
Your FREE PDF guide to get you up and running with your *WordPress website - fast!
*For self-hosted WordPress websites.
SEMRush Certified
Digital Business Consultant
Lead Generation
Website Care and Support
Content Strategy Certified
Proud to support Charity Water
Global DandAD Member
Part of Arttia Creative Limited.
Professional indemnity and Public liability cover.
CoSchedule Certified