Top Recommended Tools, Plugins & Services
This page may contain affiliate links. I earn a small commission if you use an affiliate link that helps support this site – so I can write more helpful articles! I only recommend companies I love and will happily recommend places without affiliate programs too – like Porkbun and NearlyFreeSpeech.net because they are great companies!
Table of Contents
Domain Registrars
A domain registrar is the place you buy a domain name – like websitetechgirl.com. Many hosting providers also offer domain name registration and it can feel easier to combine services. However, if you ever want to change your hosting, it’s easier later if your domain registrar is separate.
Porkbun
Porkbun is my current go-to domain registrar. They have good prices, a good interface to work with and everything works well.
NearlyFreeSpeech.net
I have many domains registered with Nearlyfreespeech.net. I appreciate the way their business is ran, although their approach may not be for everyone. Their main business is hosting, but they also provide domain registration services. I recommend them here because I feel like they are a really solid company. You can read more about them in the hosting section on this page.
Hosting Providers
A website hosting provider is the place that actually “houses” your website. The quality of service they provide is hugely varied.
This is a competitive market and sadly, many recommendations you’ll find seem to be based on the affiliate marketing fees they pay out rather than the quality of the services.
Many offer cheap intro prices and then steeply raise prices after that, some charge for features that should be free like SSL certificates.
Siteground: My go-to recommendation for web hosting
Siteground is my general go-to hosting recommendation for WordPress sites. They offer great service, pricing, options and speed. Their interface is super easy-to-use. I also love that it’s easy to share access to a site with a developer or other person if you need help with your site. If I create a site for a client and they want to take over the hosting at some point, it’s also super easy to just transfer the site ownership over to somebody else.
NearlyFreeSpeech.net: A great company, but for developers and techy people
I have many sites hosted on Nearlyfreespeech.net. I appreciate the way their business is ran, although their approach may not be for everyone. Their service is very DIY. It’s not for beginners or people looking to keep things simple. I do highly recommend looking into it if you are a developer, especially if you are looking for flexible options. They have an extensive FAQ that explains their service and business model that will give one and idea if they will be a good fit.
Email Providers
An email that matches your domain name is a must for a business – it lets people know that you’re a professional.
Google Workspace: The go-to standard
This is a go-to standard. It’ll get the job done. It includes Gmail and the other Google Apps – Drive, Docs, etc. If you need the additional apps or might in the future this is the way to go, especially if you need to share documents with others in your organization. However, it’s pricier than some of the other options and they continue to raise the prices periodically.
Fastmail: Privacy Focused & a better deal
Fastmail is more privacy-focused, has some plans that are better deal than Google Workspace. In addition, they make it easy to add extra domains on to one plan, so if you have several small side projects this is a good option. It’s mostly email-focused, but offers better pricing than Google Workspace.
ImprovMX: Free, but not ideal
If you have a hobby project and want to get a custom email address on a budget (free), you can do so with a bit of extra setup using ImprovMX’s free plan and these instructions to send emails using Gmail’s “Send mail as” to send the email from a normal Gmail account.
I don’t recommend this for a business or serious venture, but it works fine if you’re really looking to save money. However, there is no guarantee that it will work forever and it can get messed up if the app passwords that are setup are accidentally deleted. It also may not be that robust when it comes to passing the new anti-spam measures.
Uptime Monitoring
Know right away if your website goes down! (I recently had a client forget to pay to renew their domain name and this also sent me an alert about that. I was able to contact the client and they were able to renew it with minimal down time. Phew. A real life saver since an expired domain name means your website doesn’t work AND your email doesn’t go through.)
UptimeRobot
I use UptimeRobot to monitor client websites. It sends me an alert anytime they experience downtime. It’s easy to configure for email or text alerts.
Most websites are extremely reliable and I’ve had very few issues – but I want to know as soon as one of the rare problems does arise. UptimeRobot is a solid, reliable service to know if something happens with your website.
Invoicing, Payments & Ecommerce
This could (and should) be it’s own article. But I’ll cover it briefly here because getting paid is one of the post important things for a business.
Stripe and PayPal - Payments & Simple Invoicing
Stripe and PayPal are my two go-to options for setting up payments for clients. They are well-known, reliable and easy-to-integrate with most platforms.
Of the two, Stripe feels more business-oriented. You can do things like taking credit card numbers over the phone that you just can’t do with PayPal (which is looking to reduce fraud).
Stripe also allows you to integrate payment directly into your site, whereas the PayPal checkout always directs you out to PayPal’s interface which feels like an extra step.
Both platforms allow you to easily send invoices to clients. Either is a viable way to start invoicing a few clients if you are just starting a small business.
Moxie - Invoicing, Client Management, Project Management and More
If you’re ready to move beyond simple invoicing needs to a more complete client management product with contracts, invoicing, project management, time tracking and more, I highly recommend Moxie. It is what I use for my business and it’s amazing!
WooCommerce & Shopify - eCommerce Options
If you’re looking for eCommerce functionality on your website, WooCommerce is the standard way to go on a WordPress site. This gives you complete control of the site.
Shopify also offers a solid platform, although you sacrifice control of your site since you are running on their platform. If you operation is heavily eCommerce-based one might consider Shopify for the solid eCommerce functionality. If you want more options for customizing your own site, having a WordPress site with WooCommerce gives you infinite options for everything else on your site – a blog, a membership site, etc.
Image Editing
From flyers to social media posts to website graphics, it’s nice to have an easy option to create nice images for your business.
Canva
Canva shines for being easy to use and including a near-infinite number of templates that you can start with and edit to fit your needs. It’s easy-ish to use, but also includes lots of powerful, advanced features including the ability to create templates and batch create images, AI tools and more.
Online Contracts and eSignatures
If you are a freelancer or small business, contracts are a must!
eSignatures.com - a simple solution
Before I switched to Moxie for my business, I used esignatures.com for my contracts. I loved their interface and the fact that you could buy credits that never expire instead of having to pay a recurring fee. A simple and great service for contracts and online signatures.
Moxie - Contracts, eSignatures, Invoicing, Client Management, Project Management and More
Moxie is a lot ore than just contracts and eSignatures, but it has that too. It’s contracts are built into the client management and invoicing pipeline. It’s seamless and nice to have as an all-in-one solution if you are a freelancer or have a small business. I highly recommend Moxie. It is what I use for my business and it’s amazing!