Tools & Resources
Wondering which WordPress plugins, software, and other tools you need to grow your online business and elevate your presence online? We’ve got you!
Find our favorite tools and resources that will help you grow your blog or online business, save dozens of hours per week, automate key marketing activities, and save lots of money!
Browse By Category
I’m an affiliate for many of the companies on this page, which means I may earn a commission (at no additional cost to you) if you purchase using my code or link. I only recommend companies or products because I believe in them, not because of the small commission I may receive. Please do not spend money on any product unless you believe it will help you achieve your goals. See my disclosure policy for more information.
Katy’s Top 3 Tools
KadenceWP
All of our themes are built using the Kadence Theme. I highly recommend upgrading to a Kadence Bundle to unlock additional features!
Kit
Kit (formerly know as ConvertKit) simplifies email marketing so you can easily connect with your audience. Get a free plan (good for up to 1k subscribers)!
Canva
Create beautiful graphics for your blog, including Pinterest pins, printable PDFs, slide decks, and more! Sign up to get a free trial.
Design
WordPress Themes
Check out our easy-to-customize Kadence child themes These themes are built using the Kadence Theme and Kadence Blocks Plugin. Simply purchase your favorite theme design, install it with just a few clicks, and customize it to match your branding by following our step-by-step tutorials!
Design
Design Tools
Pro Template Subscription
Unlock the full potential of your website with the DIY Dream Site Pro Templates Subscription! With instant access to our ever-growing library of 300+ professionally designed templates built with Kadence Blocks, plus monthly additions based on subscriber requests, you’ll never run out of inspiration. Our step-by-step Training Central makes setup and customization easy, so you can launch stunning pages—fast. Perfect for content creators and online businesses ready for a serious design shortcut.
Canva
Canva is an online drag-and-drop design tool that allows you to create beautiful designs including graphics for your blog, Pinterest printable PDFs, slide decks, business cards, and more! I personally use the Pro plan to unlock all of their features including downloading images with transparent backgrounds, accessing premium stock photos, resizing graphics with a single click, and more!
Free forever plan → Pro plans start at $9.95/mo
Design
Fonts/Typography
Creative Market
This is the best place to buy custom fonts! Creative Market is a platform that offers a diverse selection of unique fonts for those in search of creative typography options. It provides a wide range of meticulously designed fonts that cater to various needs to make your content stand out.
When using free fonts, make sure you select a font that’s free for commercial use! Ones labeled personal use only cannot be used on your website or in marketing materials without a license.
Design
Browser Tool
Polypane
If you are DIYing your own website, check out the Polypane Browser. This browser allows you to see what your pages will look like on multiple devices in one view! This is a great investment, even if it’s only for a month or two while you’re doing the bulk of your theme customization work.
Get started with a free 14-day trial, then pay just $11 per month.
Design
Quiz
Not sure if you should DIY your website or hire a designer?
Take the quiz to find out which option is best for you!
Build
Stock Photos & Videos
I recommend doing a branding photoshoot and NOT just relying on stock images for your blog or business. But, we often do need stock to fill in the gaps, so here are the stock sites I use and love:
IvoryMix
Ivory Mix is the most comprehensive membership of stock photos and marketing resources built to empower busy female entrepreneurs. You can plug these photos into your website, Instagram, blog, Pinterest, Facebook, and YouTube strategies!
Free membership available → Upgraded membership plans start at $167/yr
Envato Elements
Envato Elements offers a vast library of high-quality photos, templates, graphics, and design assets, but it also saves you valuable time and money. I believe this resource could be a game-changer for our project if you don’t have your own brand assets.
Free membership available → Upgraded membership plans start at $167/yr
Creative Market
This is the best place to buy custom fonts, graphics and templates! Creative Market is a platform that offers a diverse selection of unique signs for those in search of creative resources.
Free membership available → Upgraded membership plans start at $167/yr
BUILD
Hosting and Domains
All in one solution
StellarSites
This is a unique hosting experience that bundles our top recommended WordPress theme and plugins into the hosting environment so you only need one account!
Plans start at $15/mo (billed monthly)
Favorite Shared Hosting Provider
SiteGround
Siteground is a budget-friendly shared managed WordPress hosting provider with great up-time, built-in performance optimization + security, 24/7 customer support, one-click staging, and more.
Plans start at $14.99/mo (billed annually)
Favorite Dedicated Hosting Provider
BigScoots
BigScoots offers fast, managed WordPress hosting plans with NO shared hosting or overages, free website migrations, stable monthly pricing, and unparalleled customer support!
Plans start at $34.95/mo (billed monthly)
Affordable Domains
NameCheap
NameCheap makes registering, hosting, and managing domains for yourself easy! Their domains are secure, affordable, easy to use, and paired with great support.
Cost per domain varies
More Hosting Recommendations
See more hosting recommendations in the post: How To Choose The Best WordPress Web Host (For Bloggers + Online Businesses)
BUILD
ECommerce Solutions
SureCart
SureCart is a free e-commerce plugin that you can use to sell digital or physical products. This is a headless plugin, meaning the backend management system is completely separated from the frontend WordPress plugin so it won’t slow your website down.
WooCommerce
WooCommerce is also a free e-commerce plugin that you can use to sell digital or physical products and has been around the longest. You can upgrade to various paid plugin extensions to get the functionality that’s right for your business needs.
NOTE: If you plan to use WooCommerce, consider building your shop on a subdomain.
Not sure which one is best for you?
Other ECommerce Solutions
PLUGIN
Easy Digital Downloads
PLUGIN
WP Simple Pay
3-RD PARTY
ThriveCart
3-RD PARTY
SendOwl
3-RD PARTY
Gumroad
Print On Demand
If you don’t want to mess with product fulfillment and shipping, but still want to sell physical products to your customer, you should consider working with print on demand companies like:
Printify
Printful
BUILD
Site Optimization & Security
WP Rocket
WP Rocket is one of the most powerful and user-friendly caching plugins that can drastically improve your site speed. Even if you’re not a developer, you can quickly implement & configure this plugin!
ShortPixel
Short Pixel improves website performance by using advanced compression technology that reduces image size without any before/after difference in quality… thus making your pages load faster!
Understanding Site Speed Course
If you’re concerned about your website speed or performance and you can’t hire a developer, Grayson’s Site Speed Course will guide you through everything you need to know about website optimization.
Solid WP
SolidWP keeps your WordPress site safe, fast, and backed up without making it complicated. Handled in one place, security, backups, and updates keep your site safe and running smoothly.
BUILD
WordPress Technical Support
iMark Interactive
iMark Interactive is a full-service WordPress support company offering one-time support or ongoing plans to help site owners with any technical issues. If you need a quick WordPress fix, monthly support plan, HTTPS site integration, or site speed overhaul, Grayson’s team at iMark Interactive is the best in the business!
Backup plans start as low as $10 per month
BUILD
Course & Membership Platforms
SureMembers
SureMembers is a trusted membership plugin, providing an all-in-one solution for businesses aiming to grow their membership sites. This is also my personal choice for managing My DIY Dream Site membership.
LifterLMS
LifterLMS is a robust and flexible software solution that serves as an all-in-one system for creating, managing, and selling educational courses online. This is the platform I trust and use for my courses.
LearnDash
LearnDash is a comprehensive learning management system that facilitates the creation and sale of online courses, complete with quizzes, progress tracking, and certification capabilities.
ThriveCart
ThriveCart is a robust platform empowering businesses to design high-converting cart pages, manage sales funnels, and drive affiliate campaigns with insightful business analytics.
Teachable
Teachable is a versatile e-learning platform that allows users to build, customize, and sell online courses, offering integrated payment processing and detailed student analytics.
BUILD
Affiliate Marketing
AffiliateWP
AffiliateWP is the best affiliate management plugin for WordPress that offers a wide range of powerful features to help you effectively manage your affiliate program. It allows you to financially reward anyone who refers new customers to your e-commerce store, course or membership!
Pricing starts at $149.50 per year
MARKETING
Search Engine Optimization – SEO
RankIQ
RankIQ is a unique SEO tool built specifically for content creators. You’ll find a hand-picked library of the lowest competition, high-traffic keywords for every niche. Plus, the tool tells you what to put in your post and title so you can write perfectly optimized content in half the time. If you want to rank every post on the 1st page of Google, this tool will help you get there.
Get started for just $49 (50% off the $99 rate)
SEMrush
SEMrush is an advanced SEO tool I use to conduct keyword research, to research competitors, build quality backlinks, track search rankings, fine-tune on-page and technical SEO and more!
Free trial available! Paid plans start at $129.95 per month
Course
Stupid Simple SEO Course
Stupid Simple SEO shares a different keyword research method than what I’ve shared in this course. However, if you want to dig deeper into SEO, this is the most in-depth course you’ll find on the market!
Full price, the course is $597. Payment plans are available!
Plugin
RankMath
Rankmath is one of the best WordPress SEO tools! Use this plugin to create a site map, optimize your content, customize SEO settings, control page indexing & more. I personally have a pro account to help me create redirections and track affiliate links, but the free version is great to get started!
Free plugin available. Pro plans start at $69 for the first year
Plugin
Yoast SEO Plugin
Yoast is another popular WordPress SEO tool that will create your sitemap and help you optimize each page and post for on-page SEO best practices.
Free plugin available. They have a pro plan, but it’s not worth the investment.
Extension
MozBar
I use Moz’s Google Chrome extension for competitive keyword research. I look at the Moz domain authority score to help me determine if I have a shot at ranking for specific keywords. This tool is free. Sign up for your free account: https://moz.com/
Extension
Keywords Everywhere
Keywords Everywhere is a browser extension that’s extremely handy for keyword research and creating blog post outlines. You can view monthly search volume, CPC, and competition data of keywords on multiple websites. I personally use the Chrome extension to gather additional keywords for H2’s & H3’s in my blog posts.
Get 100k credits for $10
MARKETING
Email Marketing
Kit
Kit (Formerly known as ConvertKit) is my favorite email marketing tool designed for content creators. It’s easy to use & the most affordable tool with tagging & segmentation capabilities!
MailerLite
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Active Campaign
Active Campaign is another great email marketing tool. It includes necessary tagging & segmentation features with robust email building & data tracking tools. If you’re new to list building, their lite plan can’t be beaten!
Essentials
Business Must-Haves
Google Workspace
Get a domain name-based email address for a totally professional online presence for as little as $6/month! You also get shared calendars, online document editing, organization & storage, & so much more.
Dubsado
Dubsado is a powerful CRM for creative service-based businesses. Now, you can send proposals, invoices and contracts plus you can automate call scheduling and email communications with prospects and clients!
SmartSuite
I’m in the process of transitioning to SmartSuite for my online business, and I must say, I’m genuinely excited about the potential benefits it offers. I can’t wait to see how it transforms my workflow and boosts productivity.
Zight
With Zight (Formerly CloudApp), you can record your screen as a video with your voice and/or face, capture your screen and annotate the image, or record a GIF and then instantly share it as a link. I use this tool all the time to visually communicate with my clients and create tutorials!
Loom
If video messaging is a vital part of your business you’ll love Loom. It will make talking to clients and your team a breeze. With Loom, you can quickly create and share video messages, tutorials, and product demos.
YNAB
This is a budgeting app new business owners can use to manage their business finances. I personally use this tool to implement the Profit First method without opening seven bank accounts. Perfect for bloggers and businesses who aren’t quite ready for Quickbooks!
A Self Guru Legal Templates
Every website needs a privacy policy, terms & conditions, disclaimer and other legal documents for legal protection. A Self Guru’s templates are easy to customize but most importantly bring peace of mind!
Essentials
Chrome Extensions
Using 1Password has been essential for my online business. It’s like having a digital vault that keeps all my sensitive information, from login credentials to secure payment details. Not only does it make managing passwords a breeze, but it also enhances security by generating strong, unique passwords for each of my accounts.
As you type, Grammarly checks your text for hundreds of common and advanced writing issues. (Since I write so much, I use the premium version, but they have a free version available!) You can use the Chrome extension or their desktop app and use it anywhere you type! This is a MUST-HAVE because it will make your messages, documents, and posts clear, mistake-free, and impactful.
Need to capture a screenshot of the ENTIRE web page? Use this! Size your browser to the needed size, press the extension button, and then you’ll have a full page PNG of the webpage. This is great for when you launch a client site to get screenshots of their PRIOR site and the new site you designed for your portfolio and launch images.
For SEO purposes, you never want to have too many H1s on a page, and you’ll want to make sure the page headings all flow correctly. This extension lets you quickly check what the text tag is on any block of text, on any website.
This eyedropper & color chooser tool allows you to select color values from any web page! See a color on Pinterest that you want to use in your brand colors? Use this handy tool to quickly snag the hexcode!
Speed up or slow down playback of Facebook videos! This is one of my favorite time-saving hacks. Watching a Facebook live replay? Speed it up and save time.
