I get asked all the time about the products and services I use on this very website. At the beginning of each year (sometimes sooner — sometimes later) I stop and actually take some time to review my own site, themes, plugins and setup. So I thought I would share with you what the bones of my site are as of right now.
New Look
I never know when I'm going to flip my look. No matter how much in love I was with the latest theme, it will start bugging me.
Then, one day; it happens. I see a new theme and need to use it for my site! Not in the near future, not next month, not next week — now! Then I have to remember to come back to this post and update it. The curse of being me.
PREMIUM WORDPRESS THEME:
- Genesis By StudioPress
- Authority Pro: A child theme for Genesis offered by StudioPress
I exclusively use StudioPress' Genesis Framework with a Child Theme, for all my sites and recommend the same to my clients. You can read about why here.
GENESIS | STUDIOPRESS PLUGINS:
- Genesis Simple Edits: Genesis Simple Edits lets you edit the three most commonly modified areas in any Genesis theme: the post-info, the post-meta, and the footer area. A bit behind WordPress updates but I'm sure if there was a conflict it would have been addressed.
- Simple Social Icons: A simple, CSS and icon font driven social icons widget that I use in top left header.
- Genesis 404: Customize the content of your 404 (not found) page.
- Genesis Blocks: A beautiful collection of handy blocks to help you get started with the new WordPress editor.
PREMIUM WORDPRESS PLUGINS FROM WPMUDEV
- Hummingbird Pro: Hummingbird zips through my site finding new ways to make it load faster, from file compression and minification to browser caching – because when it comes to page speed, every millisecond counts.
- Smush Pro: Reduces image file sizes, improve performance and boosts my SEO using the WPMU DEV WordPress Smush API.
- Forminator Pro: Capture user information (as detailed as you like), engage users with interactive polls that show real-time results and graphs, “no wrong answer” Facebook-style quizzes and knowledge tests.
PREMIUM WORDPRESS THEMES
- Fonts Plugin Pro: The easiest to use Google Fonts typography plugin. No coding required. 900+ font choices.
- Pretty Links Beginner Edition: Shrink, track and share any URL using your website and brand.
- Real Media Library: Organize uploaded media in folders, collections and galleries: A file manager for WordPress. Media management made easy!
- Yoast Premium SEO: Cannot live without the Yoast readability guide.
PLUGINS FROM THE WORDPRESS PLUGIN DIRECTORY
- Tabby Responsive Tabs: Create responsive tabs inside your posts, pages or custom post types by adding simple shortcodes. An easy to use admin page can be added to customize the tab styles with the optional Tabby Responsive Tabs Customiser add-on plugin.
- WordFence Security: Anti-virus, Firewall and Malware Scan
The above is the basic setup and what I have integrated as of today — this could change at any moment, whim or new discovery! Now you have the G-2 so you can have a site that looks like mine!
At your service,
P.S. Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are “affiliate links” marked (aff). Read my full Affiliate Disclosure Statement here.
