WordPress Blogs
Blogs are the foundation of WordPress, so it makes sense to start here. In fact, there are lots of blogs we recommend. Here are just a few:- WPKube. WPKube should be your number one WordPress resource, although there might be some bias! It offers news-related content, tutorials, roundups, and much more.
- WP Tavern. This is as close as you’ll get to ‘offical’ WordPress news. While it’s autonomous, Automattic own the site. Despite that, it keeps its impartiality and breaks a lot of interesting scoops.
- Torque. WP Engine runs a fantastic blog, that features some of the biggest names in WordPress. It’s essential reading for anyone who uses the platform.
- WPBeginner. Much like WPKube, WP Beginner is one of the biggest ‘unofficial’ WordPress blogs, that has one of the most prominent figures in WordPress at the helm (Syed Balkhi.)
- Wordfence. The Wordfence blog is where you’ll go to read about the company’s efforts to eradicate malicious attacks. The research and detail it offers is some of the best content you’ll read.
- WPMU DEV. The WPMU DEV blog is one of the oldest and most populated blogs around. There is always something interesting to read here.
- The Yoast blog. If you want to learn more about Search Engine Optimization (SEO,) the Yoast blog is a fantastic WordPress resource to learn more about it.
- Tom McFarlin. If you’re a WordPress developer, Tom McFarlin’s site is a treasure trove of code, tips, and tricks to up your game.
- WP Mayor. This is another long-standing and high quality blog of tutorials and reviews. The site also curates a solid newsletter too.
- WP Explorer. For even more tutorials and reviews, WP Explorer should be on your list. It comes from the same minds as the Total theme, and the site packs in a lot of content.
- The Delicious Brains blog. Some of the finest WordPress developers also work on some of the best WordPress content around. It has a development focus, and can be invaluable to nab some insider tricks and techniques for your own products.
WordPress Information
You’ll find a lot of cross-over between WordPress blogs and other information sites. The difference is that the list below have lots of development and advanced usage cases.- WordPress Support site. Lots of the resources from the old WordPress Codex are now on a dedicated support site. If you need to know something about WordPress, head here first.
- The Make WordPress site. Developer documentation is necessary to develop for WordPress. This site gives you almost everything you need to start on the right foot.
- WP101. There’s lots to learn about WordPress, but often there is little structure. WP101 gives you courses in order to learn about the leading Content Management System (CMS.)
- Elementor Academy. The page builder plugin is a behemoth. The dedicated academy will offer you courses on how to create with WordPress, and use Elementor like the pros.
WordPress Podcasts
The podcast community is burgeoning, and WordPress offers some of the most interesting. Because the turnover of podcasts is still high, this list misses out a few that don’t update any more. Still, these offer plenty of interesting news and opinions on WordPress.- DoTheWoo. Bob Dunn is a veteran WordPress community member who is the font of WooCommerce knowledge. All in all, the DoTheWoo podcast is one of the best WordPress resources available.
- Post Status. Developers and industry insiders know that Post Status offers four of the best podcasts around. It also presents you with some of the biggest names in the space, complete with their opinions.
- The Matt Report. Matt Medeiros is the Director of Podcaster Success at Castos. His podcast details how to build a successful digital business of your own.
- WPwatercooler. There are two top podcasts here – one for typical users, and another for developers – with a solid hosting team and special guests.
- Distributed with Matt Mullenweg. If you want to hear about distributed work strategies from Mr. WordPress himself, this podcast will be a go-to.
- WPCoffeeTalk. While this podcast isn’t “WordPress people (not in cars) getting coffee,” you won’t be far wrong. It’s a chilled podcast with some big names in the interviewee chair.
- Women In WP. This bi-monthly podcast talks to women within the WordPress space about what they do, and also how they do it.
- The WPMMR Podcast. WP Buffs gives you a weekly podcast on all things business within WordPress. Heavy hitters sit down together with Head Buff Joe Howard every Tuesday.
Popular Themes
You have a mountain of free themes to choose from on the WordPress Theme Directory. Not only that, there are lots of premium-only options too. The choice can be overwhelming, but we can boil the swathes of themes down to four. Let’s take a look.- Elegant Themes. This is one theme that features a lot on the WPKube blog. It’s a long-standing developer that produces quality, and the Divi Builder is fantastic too. You can also get ten percent off of the standard price using our coupon!
- Astra. This is another theme we feature on the blog. It’s a multi-faceted theme that delivers. It also comes with a number of integrations with other popular WordPress products.
- Kadence. There is a free version of Kadence, but the premium edition is one of the best. We look at both versions in a previous blog post.
- MeridianThemes. Our sister site produces some excellent themes for a number of different applications, including the multi-purpose Meridian One Plus.
Essential Plugins
By and large, plugins are a vital part of the WordPress experience. In fact, we think some plugins are necessary for- Yoast SEO. We rave about Yoast SEO, and it’s what we use at WPKube. We’re not the only ones – it’s almost the essential WordPress plugin to use on your site.
- Jetpack. Regardless of some opinions, Jetpack packs in so much essential site functionality that you might not need to use another plugin.
- Wordfence. If there’s one security plugin we’d recommend, it’s Wordfence. Whether you use the free or premium edition, you get one of the most robust and quality plugins on the market.
- Simple Basic Contact Form. Every site needs a contact form, and our plugin gives you something simple, basic, and gorgeous to look at.
- Subscribe to Comments Reloaded. Usability is one of the most important aspects a comments section needs. In short, our plugin lets you implement a better subscription manager for your users.
- Elementor. A page builder plugin is definitely essential. Elementor is the most popular and arguably the most powerful. What’s more, the price is competitive too.
- Beaver Builder. There’s lots of choice for a page builder, and if you don’t want to use Elementor, Beaver Builder should be on your shortlist. Our review is vital reading, and our coupon can net you a discount!
- WP Rocket. We talk about this caching plugin on the blog. To repeat that review, it’s one of (if not) the best caching plugins available.
- Schema Pro. Search engine schema markup needs an expert touch. However, with Schema Pro, the plugin does the hard work for you!
- Pretty Links. This plugin is a ‘first ballot’ choice for beautifying, tracking, cloaking, and managing your URLs using a custom short domain name.
- Thrive Leads. You’ll want to make sure you build lists of user information, in order to target them in the future. Thrive Leads is a number one choice for doing so.
WordPress Hosting
Lots of hosting providers cater to WordPress – sometimes as the only platform. Below are some of our favorites.- WP Engine. This host is a major player within WordPress, and provides services to thousands of sites. Our review speaks volumes, and our coupon code can save you cash.
- A2 Hosting. There are a lot of plans to chose from, and while it doesn’t focus specifically on WordPress, there are no complaints from us. It’s cheap, but we can make it even cheaper!
- InMotion Hosting. If you want solid shared hosting at a super-low price, InMotion Hosting can be perfect for beginners or small business owners.
- Flywheel. This host is now under the WP Engine umbrella, and provides hosting focusing on marketers and agencies. What’s more, WPKube runs on Flywheel, and you could too with our discount.
- Kinsta. The biggest player in the game, without a doubt. For cloud-based managed WordPress hosting that is obsidian-solid, along with mountains of features and top-notch support, Kinsta leads the way.
WordPress Tools and Services
This section covers everything that can offer you value, but isn’t a host, theme, or plugin. For example, maintaining your site is crucial, and making sure it runs fast is just as important.- Sucuri. We could feature this in the plugin section too, but it offers more than that. For starters, you get a server-side Web Application Firewall (WAF) – a key member of your security team of tools.
- Stackpath. A Content Delivery Network (CDN) makes sure your site loads fast anywhere in the world. Stackpath (formally MaxCDN) is one of the best, and we can net you a discount on it too.
- ManageWP. If you run a lot of sites and want to manage them all from a single dashboard, ManageWP is a veteran WordPress resource for the job.
- Glow. This upstart WordPress resource helps you manage multiple sites and carry out maintenance. Also, it has fantastic support and a killer set of features and functionality.
- Pingdom Tools. This is a long-standing way to find out how fast your site loads, and where the bottlenecks are. It’s not the only solution, but it’s so good you might not need anything else.
- ShortPixel. You’ll want to make sure your images have the smallest file size possible. ShortPixel does this better than anyone, and we can save you money on a subscription too.
- WP Buffs. The king of WordPress maintenance services. Above all, if you need the experts to watch over your site, these are the people.
- SEMrush. Your SEO strategy needs good keywords to rank well. SEMrush helps you find them – and much more.
Tiyo Kamtiyono says
Adding http://www.catswhocode.com or themezilla.com for is also a good idea, they are both good for additional coding resources and themes collection 🙂
Nile says
Jean Baptiste Jung doesn’t do much updating to his sites anymore… but he does also own WPRecipes.com and that is strictly WordPress.
Robert Tyson says
Great resource Dev, thank you.
Devesh says
Glad you liked the resource, Robert. Thanks for stopping by :).
John Saddington says
great work here devesh. thanks for including us!
Devesh says
your welcome, john. keep up the good work.
Ileane says
Hi Devesh,
Nice resource list. There’s an awesome podcast called Your Website Engineer by Dustin Hartzler. You might want to add that one to the list. He’s got tons of tutorials.
Devesh says
Hi Ileane,
Just added “Your Website Engineer” podcast in the list. Thanks for letting me know about him.
Jean Galea says
Great list of resources Devesh, thanks for featuring us.
Devesh says
Your welcome, Jean and thanks for stopping by.
Ana Hoffman says
Nicely done, Dev – I love having a resource post like this at my fingertips whenever a WP question arises.
I have one problem with it though: Akismet? I wouldn’t come anywhere close to this plugin. Why not GASP?
If you need my reasoning, check out this post: http://www.trafficgenerationcafe.com/die-akismet-die/
I’ll be very upset if this comment ends up in spam. 🙂
Ti Roberts says
I just read your post on Akismet and I’ve had this very same problem, Ana. Wouldn’t touch it again with a 10 foot pole.
Neal Ghoshal says
Great Post – thank you – you Rock!
Devesh says
Thanks for the nice words, Neal :).
Nizam Khan says
Wow! Awesome and much useful WP resources and tools. This will be a much helpful guide for WP users, especially for newbies. However the WP hosting you mentioned are specific? What about Hostgator and Bluehost? Thanks for sharing and tweeted 🙂
Devesh says
Hi Nizam,
The hosting I mentioned are specifically targeted to WordPress users. All the hosts I have listed are Managed WordPress hosting, that means if something goes wrong with your WordPress installation, your host is going to fix it.
Thanks so much for stopping by and leaving a nice comment.
Nizam Khan says
Okay! Now I get it. Great that they fix issues when something goes wrong with installation. Thanks for replying 🙂
Jupiter Jim says
Devesh,
Great List!!! I had to share it on my Facebook Fan Page! I like Fast Secure Contact Form and WP Supercache and GASP better myself. BackupBuddy is the best!
It would be an honor for me if you felt my site was worthy of getting on your list: http://jupiterjimsmarketingteam.com/
Ok, thanks so much for this great blog post and website!
Take Care,
Jupiter Jim
Devesh says
Hi Jim,
Glad you liked the list, just added your blog in the list. Keep up the good work, bud.
-Dev
Gera says
Hi Dev,
Really a very good summary of all WordPress related. I’ll need to read carefully on this weekend!
Respect to W3TC, I needed to uninstall due to problems it had lately several times.
As Ana said before, GASP for me is vital to kill automatic spam, instead of Akismet.
Excellent work and weekend ahead too 🙂
Gera
Devesh says
I just added GASP plugin to the list, thanks so much for the nice words.
-Dev
Ti Roberts says
Fantastic list you’ve put together here, Dev; job well done!
Aside from Askiment (would never use it again or recommend it), this is definitely a great resource and I’m glad you’ve made this available to us to refer to and our readers as well. 🙂
Ti
Devesh says
Hi Roberts,
Glad to hear that.
Thanks so much for including this in your weekly roundup. Much appreciated.
Syed Balkhi says
Thanks for adding WPBeginner in the list man. I really appreciate it. Great list 🙂
Devesh says
Your welcome, Syed and thanks for stopping by.
Carla says
Awesome! I will definately bookmark and come back often. As a WP newbie this is a treasure trove!! Thanks so much for sharing!
Robyn M Fritz says
Wow, thanks for these great resources. I am not a techie but realized 4-5 years ago that I needed to learn a system so I could have websites for my business, and the ability to quickly and securely update them. After much stumbling around I settled on WordPress and a wonderful WordPress coach and trainer, Bob Dunn of BobWP http://www.bobwp.com/. He not only set up sites and taught me how to use WordPress (all site errors continue to be my own) but his patience and his free stuff really added to the value. He has wonderful, easy to understand tutorials (many free), and hosts in-person and online seminars, all of which I’ve attended. I know WordPress is like, maybe, religion for a lot of people, but for me it’s a necessary tool to run my business, and I need to do that efficiently and well. I heartily suggest you add him to your list! Robyn M Fritz, Alchemy West in Seattle
Al says
A great post full of resources.
Another to add for beginners is http://easywpguide.com/ an online or free downloadable pdf/word manual for the how to do things.
Dee says
I agree, it’s the first place I send all my new WP clients and trainees. Really accessible easy to use guide!
Giovambattista Fazioli says
Great Post! I suggest http://wpxtre.me
Appyaan IT says
Oh My God! Every resources are here… Thanks Devesh for this post…
Alicia says
The link for SoliloquyWP doesn’t work (404).
Thanks for the great list.
Devesh says
Fixed. Thanks for pointing it out, Alicia.
Eugene says
Devesh,
I happen to be an Italian living in London fairly good in English but if I think at my compatriots back at home they struggle because very few good articles get translated into Italian. Would you mind if I translate and publish this post onto my WP site for the benefit of fellow Italians? I will clearly mention where I got it from and who wrote it.
Regards,
Eugene
Devesh says
Hi Eugene,
Yes, feel free to use the content in anyway you want, but please make sure to link back to original source.
Eugene says
Thanks,
I will certainly do.
E
Eugene says
If for some reasons you now speak Italian OR indeed know any Italians who are not familiar with English, here’s the link to the translation of your article:
Thanks again for the opportunity, and since I’m around I’m gonna push my luck and ask you if I could also translate: ‘The Ultimate Guide for Choosing A WordPress Theme’.
Regards,
Eugene
Devesh says
I don’t think that would be good idea, it may create duplicate content issues, but thanks for asking.
Michael says
Great roundup… keep up the good work!
Devesh says
Thanks Michael. I appreciate your great support.
Kim Doyal says
AWESOME list Dev!
You continue to put out truly great content.
And of course, thanks for including me under StudioPress! 😉 Much appreciated!
Kim
Devesh says
Hey Kim,
Thanks so much for the awesome support, I really appreciate that :).
Keep up the rocking work on your blog.
Al Hidden Gloucestershire Copywriter says
Great resource Devesh. Of all the WordPress resources that you know of, what would you say is the best one for getting the most out of a standard WordPress.com blog (one that isn’t hosted on a server using WordPress.org?) I’d be interested in your opinion.
Devesh says
Would be happy to write a post about it, thanks for dropping by.
Walt Nelson says
Devesh,
What, no love for iThemes Builder? 😉
You like Backup Buddy – well, they are the same folks behind iThemes Builder. I highly recommend them both. In addition, they have some nice free tutorials at:
http://ithemes.com/tutorials/
Their forum and support are top notch, too.
Just a happy customer.
Thanks,
Walt
Devesh says
Hey Wait,
To be honest with you, actually I forget to include that awesome resource. Anyways, I have already added that resource in the post and now I hope you would be showing some love for wpkube ;).
Thanks for sharing the link, Walt. Have a great day.
Nancy West Johnson says
Kim Doyle sent me to your article. ;- ) Thanks for all your work putting together this super resource! I’m going to recommend it to all my beginning WP students.
Devesh says
That’s awesome to hear! Kim really is a great person.
Thanks for showing your support, Nancy. I really appreciate that and sorry for taking so long to reply.
Kay says
I offer WordPress Trainings in the UK for people who want hands on help 🙂
Devesh says
Thanks for sharing that with us, Kay.
Frank says
Great list of resources. I was aware of most of them but still found a few new ones listed here and it’s nice to have a list of WordPress resources all in one place.
Devesh says
It’s good to see, so many people are finding this post useful :). Thanks for the support, Frank.
Keith Davis says
Devesh what a star you are.
A fabulous resouece and my inclusion is a great bonus for me.
Appreciate the work that you have put in to produce the web’s #1 WordPress resource.
Devesh says
Hey Keith,
Always good to hear from you. Thanks so much for the nice words, mate.
Eric Dye says
Agreed. GASP has been awesome.
(http://churchm.ag/spam-wars/)
Devesh says
Hey Eric,
Definitely, GASP is the plugin to fight spam comments.
I hope you are having a good time managing “churchmag” =).
Eric Dye says
It’s a real joy. 😛
Pratap says
You have created an excellent list for wordpress users. I appreciate your information. I have noted some sites for my future reference from your blog post.
Devesh says
Hey Pratap,
That’s nice to hear, make sure to share the post when it’s up.
Thanks for the nice comment.
Johan Eindhoven says
Thanks for this amazing list!
Devesh says
My pleasure, Johan.
Christina Sarabun says
Thanks, Devesh! That’s an awesome list of useful resources!
I think CMS2CMS could make an addition to WordPress tools and services. It is an online tool that migrates websites from its current CMS to WordPress automatedly and very fast.
http://www.cms2cms.com
Devesh says
Hey Christina,
My pleasure and so glad you liked the list.
Definitely, cms2cms looks like a great service. Thanks for stopping by.
Latief says
Thanks for your time get all the important resources for wp users, especially the beginners. I’ll check them one by one and this is an amazing list Devesh!
Devesh says
Hey Latief,
Glad to see you here, I hope things are going quite well with you :).
Thanks for the nice words, chap.
Hardiman Hutauruk says
Thank you for This… Really a very good summary of all WordPress. I’m still beginner in WordPress and want to learn more…. Thank you for This…
Devesh says
So glad I could able to help you… thanks for stopping by =).
Zubin Kutar says
Great Resources Dev, I’ve been using WP since the last three years and been struggling to get good WP related sites…
Kafil says
Thanks for sharing such a great article!
Chris says
Wow. Great resource list.
I can only hope that posts such as my recent 110 WordPress Photography Themes to Impact, Inspire and Awe will find a home on a similar article of the future!
Would love to know your thoughts!
Puneet Sahalot says
Hi Devesh,
This is undoubtedly one of the best posts that I could recommend to my clients and WP beginners. Good job.
You might also like to check out http://blogvault.net as this has become my favorite backup service. 🙂
And yes, WP Engine always wins my vote for best hosting.
vinodh says
thanks puneet for your free thesis skin
vinodh says
Hi,
this is really a wp handbook. thank you for wpsnipp,genesis awesome and itheme tuts.
regards
vinodh
wpcoke says
Really a very great list of WordPress related resource. I know certain of them,but some new ones I never heard of.
jasa seo jakarta says
its a nice article, im very enjoy read this, thank you
sam says
Thanks for the share. I too find WordPress SEO tool by Yoast to be the most effective tool for SEO and optimizing a wordpress website.
geo chris says
Can i add my site ? wpcodesnippets.eu
Hidayat Mundana says
Thank you
This is very valuable information.
some of the lists that you create a reference to me in developing my website.
You have to add my referral list. Once again thank you
Melody says
May I suggest that you add a “pinable” image to your handbook? Pinterest would be an amazing way to retain and share this info.
Devesh says
Thanks for the suggestion, Melody — will check it out.
Akshay Joshi says
Awesome Resource for any WP beginner. Thanks for sharing. Looking forward to share your article.
Lovely Reality says
What an incredible place to come if you are wanting all the information you need in one spot. The info here is priceless, and not just for beginners who are just learning about WordPress! Thanks so much!
Mark says
Great collection Dev! Someone may have mentioned this but adding http://www.wpbeginner.com.
Jesse says
some of the lists that you create a reference to me in developing my website.
You have to add my referral list. Once again thank you
M Yeashin Kamal says
Great Resource for any WP beginner. Thanks for sharing. This is very valuable information. Too much love to read this and knew many things. Thank you so much