Just like every other online business, you need tools and information to thrive. Below are the major blogging tools that i use and recommend. They will be of help in your blogging journey especially if you are a newbie.
WEBSITE & WEB HOSTING
Web hosting is a very crucial aspect when it comes to having your business online. You’ll have to choose a web host that offers enough server resources for your website runs smoothly, support you 24/7 and consider a lot more other factors. Here are some of the shared web hosting companies i use on all my blogging sites. I have used them for quite some time and i highly recommend them.
A2Hosting – from $3.92 per month (51% One time discount)
A2hosting.com offers one of the fastest hosting solutions in the world. With prices starting as low as $3.92 per month, they go ahead and offer a one time 51% discount on new sign ups. They are one of my best solutions for shared web hosting and WordPress hosting. They offer blazing fast web hosting solutions. A2hosting also offers an anytime money-back guarantee through out the hosting year in case you need to cancel your account and get compensated. Read my review
Bluehost – from $2.95 per month
Founded in 2003, Bluehost.com is one of the biggest web hosting companies in the world. It hosts over 2 million websites worldwide and because of this huge number, they are able to offer great discounts to clients. Bluehost is one of the official recommended web hosting providers by WordPress. Bluehost is quick, cheap and very reliable. Bluehost offers lots of one-click software installation tools hence, if you are a beginner, you will not find a very hard time installing your website on their servers. Their 24/7 support staff is another plus for them; very helpful and reliable. Read my review
SiteGround – from $7.99 per month (A very reliable web hosting company)
SiteGround.com is considered one of the most reliable web hosting companies on the internet today. They offer one of the fastest and reliable web hosting solutions in the world. SiteGround is also one of the official hosting companies that WordPress recommends to its users. Their cheapest package limits your account to approximately 10,000 monthly visits. You can use SiteGround for starter websites and switch to a bigger hosts like A2hosting as your traffic grows. Read my review
CloudFlare – Free CDN (Content Delivery Network)
CloudFlare is a content delivery network (CDN) that every one loves. With over 150 data centers worldwide, they help you speed up your websites, keep it secure and serve your files faster to your readers. Installing CloudFlare on your website improves performance, website speed and response time. All these aspects are vital especially when it comes to SEO. Read installation guide here
SEO & KEYWORD TOOLS
SEO tools are vital in growing website traffic. Over the years, i have used quite a number of tools and i can boldly confirm that the tools listed below are very effective. These keyword tools will not only help you grow your online business. They have stood the test of time and will keep you ahead of your competitors.
Ahrefs – from $99 per month (Try for $7)
Ahrefs is one of the leading SEO tools in the industry. It’s a very popular SEO tool that i use for various needs like research my competitors, track my rankings, research keywords, backlink research and analysis, content research and web monitoring. Ahrefs basically comes handy when it comes to growing your traffic, competitor analysis and niche analysis.
Plans start from $99 per month. You can actually try out Ahrefs at $7 for a span of 7 days. If not satisfied (very unlikely) with the tool, you can cancel your subscription to avoid being charged a normal monthly fee.
KWFinder by Mangools – from $49 per month
KWFinder is a powerful SEO tool for keyword research. Founded by Mangools in 2014, the monthly subscription plan comes with three other powerful SEO tools; LinkMiner (Backlink checker tool), SERPWatcher (rank tracking tool) and SERPChecker (SERP monitoring tool). Mangools isn’t only pocket friendly, the mere fact that it offers four SEO Tools at a price of one makes it a great deal. Its very affordable, easy to use with a pleasant UI. Its a great budget alternative to Ahrefs.
SEMRush – from $99 per month
SEMRush has been one of my popular SEO tools for years when it comes to Keyword Research and Site Audit. Priced exactly as Ahrefs, SEMRush is best when it comes to competitor analysis, backlink research and rank tracking. It’s referred to as a compact marketing solution for digital marketing professionals. If you need to closely study your competition, track rankings by geo-location and up your keyword research game, this all-in-one kit is the perfect choice for you.
Google Ads Keyword Planner – Free Keyword Research Tool
Most bloggers start small and very few will afford premium tools. If you are getting started and cannot afford a premium tool for Keyword Research, Google Ads Keyword Planner is a great choice for you. If properly used, it can be a very powerful SEO tool that will help you grow website traffic. You need to own a Google Ads account to be able to use the Keyword Planner Tool. In case you do not own one, application is free. Read my review here
WORDPRESS TOOLS
WordPress is a very powerful easy to use blogging tool that currently powers hundreds of millions on the web. Tutorial FAQ runs on self hosted WordPress. I use a couple of WordPress tools to maintain the performance of my website. Below are some of the tools that i highly recommend.
WordPress SEO by Yoast – Freemium
Used by millions of websites, WordPress SEO by Yoast plugin is a great SEO tool for your WordPress website. It comes in handy for on-page SEO optimization. Yoast SEO also generates a free xml sitemap for your website and makes it easier to manage SEO settings of your posts, taxonomies and pages right from your dashboard. You are able to no-index any irrelevant posts and taxonomies so that they do not show up in search, calculate keyword densities of posts during composure, add breadcrumbs to your site, add schema to your website, generate open graph meta tags and do a lot other stuff with simplicity. Read my review here
WP Rocket – Freemium
Use WP Rocket to load your website with lightning speed. WP Rocket is undoubtedly one of the best image compression plugins on the market today. It helps compress your site images to load faster and give readers the best reading experience.
No one likes a slow website and as you may know, heavy images can slow down your site if not properly compressed. This affects SEO indirectly. Website performance is a very crucial aspect that you should consider. Installing image compression plugins and tools like WP Rocket will boost your website performance.
IMAGE SITES & TOOLS
Every blog needs images to look good. A blog without any images will definitely look so plain and boring to read. Below are some of the websites and image tools that i use to create and download images for my blogs. You should use them too especially if you cannot create your own images or have no Photoshop skills.
Pixabay – Free Copyleft Image Sharing Site
Pixabay is a global copyleft image sharing website. As of today, Pixabay offers over 2 million free illustrations, photos, videos and vectors. Pixabay shares one of the best free illustrations, photos, film footage and vector graphics on the internet. It has the largest pack of free stock photos among st all websites i have used so far. They provide royalty free images in very high resolutions that you can use to avoid copyright infringement issues that arise from using images from Google Images. You can also go ahead and customize the photos to your liking. Once in a while, tip the photographers as it motivates and keeps them posting new photos.
Pexels – Free Stock Photo Sharing Site
Pexels is one of the best alternatives to Pixabay. Fee free to search through thousands of free royalty images on Pexels and use them for free, even for commercial purposes. All the 1 million + images on Pexels are royalty free and licensed under the Pexels license. You can use them for any project. With a slightly lower stock than Pixabay, you can still find great images on Pexels. I actually use both websites concurrently especially when i need to find a unique image. Pexels also offers super-high resolution images. They also let you download image in all sizes directly from their website, unlike other websites that have set resolutions.
Canva – Freemium
Designing good images for your blog shouldn’t go a long way, especially when we have tools like Canva on the internet. You do not need any Photoshop skills to design nice graphics, Canva has hundreds of templates readily available even in the free version. When you design graphics in Canva, you do not have to worry about losing your project. You can save them in your account and always come back later to edit them if you need to. Canva allows users to design social media graphics, infographics, presentations, posters flyers and other great visual content. It is readily available on both web and mobile, and integrates millions of images, fonts, templates and illustrations.
FTC DISCLOSURE
I want to tell you that all the products and services reviewed or recommended on Tutorial FAQ are genuine. I will get a small commission/referral fee if you purchase a particular service or product through my affiliate link. This referral fee helps to keep us running and paying for services without any incurred costs on your side.