For those of you considering starting a blog, I highly recommend reading my 9 Steps to Start a Blog post. I included all of the nitty gritty details there, but I’ve summarized most of them here—plus added in a few new things too!
- Less expensive options. These are great for bloggers just beginning or with a little less traffic. You don’t pay much money, and they still offer fairly good customer support.
- BlueHost (I actually started with this hosting company!)
- JustHost
- Web Hosting Hub
- Fat Cow
- iPage
- More expensive options. These are practically required when your blog receives hundreds of thousands of visitors per month. You pay a little bit more, but you don’t have to share resources like with the less expensive options, so your site will rarely be slow or inaccessible.
- WordPress.org. The themes offered here to download are free! They have limited customization options, but if you know a tiny bit of CSS, you can easily change the colors, fonts, and more.
- Genesis. This is the current framework I run, and it costs $59.95 (one-time fee, as of 10/2014). You can also purchase child themes for about the same amount.
- Thesis. At $87 (one-time fee, as of 10/2014), this option is slightly more than Genesis, but many bloggers are happy with it and its child themes as well.
- Designers. You can also hire a designer to customize your blog and avoid the HTML and CSS headaches. They vary in price, and they offer anything from creating logos to entire theme frameworks.
- Askimet. Every blog needs an anti-spam plugin, and this one catches most spam comments that appear on your blog posts.
- FeedBurner Email Widget. I use FeedBurner to deliver RSS feeds and emails to readers, and this corresponding plugin adds a box to the sidebar for visitors to enter their email address and subscribe too.
- RSS No More. Instead of sending readers your entire blog post in an email, this plugin truncates the text wherever you insert the “More” tag. It’s like a little teaser, and readers can click the link at the bottom to visit your blog and finish reading the post.
- Comment Reply Notification. This plugin sends an email to any commenter when someone responds to the message they left beneath your blog posts. It really helps create a community feel and lets readers know you care about what they think!
- All-in-One SEO Pack. With this plugin, you can enter specific SEO keywords to help increase search engine traffic to your blog.
- nrelate Related Content. This plugin shows up beneath your blog posts, and it pulls the titles and featured images of other posts that readers might be interested in. There are other plugins that do the same thing; this is simply the one I liked the best.
- Hello Bar. Although not technically a plugin, this little bit of script appears across the top of your blog. It has options for subscribing through email, following or liking on social media, and creating your own option. It’s great for growing your email list or Facebook following!
- W3 Total Cache. Caching plugins like this one help reduce the load time of your blog and help them run faster.
- Easy Nutrition Facts Label. Many of my readers request the Nutritional Information for recipes. With this plugin, I simply enter the values, and it displays them in the standard format seen on the sides of boxes and packages.
- Food Blogger Pro. Run by Lindsay and Bjork of Pinch of Yum, this invaluable resource is incredibly helpful in answering questions and bringing your blogging game to the next level. Bjork sends out free weekly emails, but if you sign up to be a part of the community, you get access to hundreds of hours of videos explaining how to build traffic, earn an income, shoot better photographs, and more. I highly recommend signing up—it’s worth every single penny!
