The right tools will give you the best start
Today’s bloggers, like me, are stuck at home for the most part due to Covid-19 here in 2020, and trying to stay productive, which can be challenging. How do I get work done without going stir-crazy? How do I get my chores done while avoiding the 110 degree outside ?
Before Covid, after a 2 hr session in a shared gym, long walks through the neighborhood to stretch and find inspiration were the answer. But not now.
I have to stay cool. B*#@+^#*t Be cool Papa . . .
These days I’m self-isolating because I’m in 3 high-risk health categories and partially taking care of my 90 something In-laws.
So, here I sit, taking my anger out on Twitter & FB groups instead of being out there in person.
So, in response to a couple of inquiries about how to remain cool under Covid and yet be productive (thank you Keith and Chris), I thought I’d share some answers after reaching the 6 month point.
So here’s what keeps me going: day to day, week to week, adding content & managing site development on a micro scale. Hey, it’s just me in here . . .
Here’s a list of my favorite tools, apps, plugins, and gizmos that are keeping me productive during my own quarantine in this 6-month roundup. This includes a loosely organized list of bookmarked blogging tools, business tools, pen & paper ones, Chrome extensions, WordPress Plugins, and helpful Bloggers & YouTubers that I’ve found helpful early on. Many do answer emails. . .
Start with the hardware. .
The laptop where my writing happens was a 2016 Acer Chromebook, which still seems tough as nails. It has traveled a lot, by plane, train, auto, taxi, & even in my motorcycle backpack when I ‘m doing rose work. [ UPDATE: Still using the Acer here in 2022 . . . ]
Next is a recycled 3 ring binder with written back-up info about each website. All the ‘what-works / what doesn’t’ stuff that comes with each site as I go along. It becomes a solid reference over time, holding account information, passwords, and settings for important apps like Google Analytics, ShortPixel, Social Streaming, and Hosting.
And of course computer lenses for my glasses to reduce eye fatigue & screen glare.
Because it’s a Google Chrome-based machine, the software is auto-updated from Google & all storage is on Google Drive. That means there is a lot less wear & tear on the internals – like no CD player or big hard drive – and the software is in the cloud. Especially the Email! Having app programming in the cloud means there is almost no virus exposure, hence no hacking through Chrome products.
The software I’m describing is everything but the start-up operating system. This includes, for free, all the typical writing, spreadsheet, & publishing tools we’ve used since the old Win95 days. Also in the cloud are all the monitored 3d party browser extensions that make Chrome even more effective.
Extensions for the Chrome browser
These 8 Chrome Extensions add features that are helpful for the writing of Post content & the analyzing of the site once it’s online. Each is available with a detailed description in the Web Store repository for Chrome. When you look at Extensions, be sure each is flagged as ‘compatible with your device.’ They’re not one-size-fits-all.
Evernote Web Clipper
Google Pagespeed Insights
WordPress Theme & Plugin Detector
Sapling Grammar Checker
Google Docs Offline
Google Translate
Last Pass password manager
HTTPS Everywhere
Keyword Surfer
Google Keep
MalwareBytes Browser Guard
AI Engine
Blog Management
Site Infrastructure
WordPress is the modular software that keeps me online with a modern presence. This is the framework or Contact Management System (CMS) for all my sites.
35% of ALL sites on the Web use it for its ease of design, stability, & huge repository of interlocking plugins for functionality. That’s around 455 million users . . .
[UPDATE: 43% of all sites as of 07/2023]
Mastering the details of WordPress is Job 1 in the first 6 months of a blog, but all the skills you gain are transferable to the next site – and the next – and the next. Plugins, themes, cache, links, and media are some of the elements that matter daily.
HostGator hosting is where I’ve been located this first year. They’re part of the huge Endurance International Group (EIG) that owns about 90 different Hosting and Web companies. They tend to get a bad rap online, but I’ve been able to talk to someone every time I’ve needed to, so I’m OK for now.
My conversations with one of their Security Techs led me to understand my 1 threat, which led me to change to the All-in-one Security plugin, which has allowed a little guy like me to start on marketing emails. But I DO review everything yearly.
I found Namecheap Registration through 3 of my beginner YouTube gurus. Each suggested that you keep your ICANN Registration separate from your Hosting, so you’re free to move around as needed. When you combine those 2 functions, it gets messy when you want to upgrade your Hosting for cost or support reasons. These guys are indeed cheap, but simple to get started with. And within 2 weeks I had moved from BlueHost to HostGator with little fuss.
[ UPDATE: I later moved to A2 Hosting Turbo Boost Hosting with Litespeed Servers.]
Using the Evernote Notebook Filing System once allowed me the freedom to write content and manage headaches on 4 sites every week for 3 years & not get the details lost or misfiled in the right website action folder. [ Too bad they’re charging too much money for this simple tool in 2024.]
Evernote’s Web Clipper is a Chrome extension that snapshots a page, section, or highlight of web content into Evernote by right-click. Very tasty, that – as the Brits would say. Post idea snippets, cool phrases for subheadings, and titles to reread later, are some of the uses for this. And of course it can be edited to instantly enter the right Site File in Evernote. [ Too bad they’re charging too much money for this simple tool in 2024.]
The 3-ring Reference Binder is a need for every Web guy, like every Sales guy, to keep track of all the site info with a section for every sub-heading I can dream up.. During the start-up week, this is open 1/2 of my day as I add details while I’m working. [ Replaced with Google Keep . . ]
I also use mine to keep track of the “what works/what doesn’t” choices as I move through to publishing each site over the course of the 1st month.. Account numbers, passwords, settings, plugins, security research, keyword research, and analytical data all make it in.
If there’s any kind of crash – and you have to go analog, you’re not completely screwed. Just mildly screwed . . .
Top 26 free WordPress plugins
After 6 months of research, plus trial & error – these are my keepers for The Jardiniste site after writing 50 Posts, 16 Reusable Blocks, & 6 Post Templates. It’s a statement of their versatility within my little blogosphere.
If you see 26 winners I kept, there were 46 losers I didn’t. Sometimes it just came down to not playing nicely with others in my Plugin sandbox. Others, however, were just poorly thought out. When you select one, make sure you’re not one of the 1st 20,000 to try it. Don’t become their tester. Right now there are 17,000 posts being published EVERY SECOND. You’ve got a job to do.
[UPDATE: Trying to get to only 12 plugins for increased speed . . . ]
I’ve left behind all those fancy, bloated Page Builders & moved to this new learn editor, native to WordPress.
I’ve tried others that optimize sites for search engines, but this is the one that doesn’t interfere with my other plugins.
It still gives me the SEO content & Social media boxes I need during editing.
A collection of complex block layouts that makes it easy to create more sophisticated posts. Their 5 & 7 block elements make Posts look like magazine articles.
Best so far for integrating newsletters and new Post mailers into WordPress with the least heartburn.
Most bloggers can create beautiful emails by using their slick & responsive templates. [UPDATE: I’ve stopped doing newsletters . . . ]
A plugin that adds a lot of blocks to help customize page layouts. It provides many normal elements, but also detailed page sections and full-page layout designs via Sections and Layouts. [UPDATE: Deleted this one . . ]
Best so far for reasonable security with the least heartburn. It reduces security risk by checking for vulnerabilities, and by implementing the latest WP security techniques.
This toolkit aids the Gutenberg Editor with elements like the handy Advanced Gallery Block with numerous edits for different layouts, backgrounds, gradients, aligns etc.
This plugin will scan your entire blog looking for broken links and let you know if any are found on the Dashboard. Handy for daily maintenance to stay profitable, but it’s a server hog.
It adds numerous custom Gutenberg blocks to the block editor and kicks it up a notch. [UPDATE: Deleted this one . . . ]
This handy plugin allows us to clone full posts of any type or to copy post templates as new drafts for copy/paste editing out of Evernote.
Ultimate Add-ons for Gutenberg
The first add-on for the new Gutenberg Editor, & still full of good blocks. Big selection, stable blocks, flexibility, new blocks, & updates are all there. [UPDATE: deleted this one too . . .]
The tool to monetize our blogs with Affiliate Marketing. When you are writing Posts, you use the “TA” button to search for the cloaked affiliate link you created earlier by name. [UPDATE: Deleted this one . . . ]
A handy plugin that protects plain email addresses and mail-to-links away from email-harvesting robots.
Adds a full sitemap literally in seconds with no coding. Works straight out of the box and includes plenty of options. [UPDATE: Superceded by Gutenberg’s sitemap]
This blocks spam comments and trackbacks, without Captchas or sending personal information to third party services. [UPDATE: Deleted this one . . . ]
This lightweight one automatically detects your license settings and reworks your entire site to safely run over https.
This is my only paid plugin. It shrinks all my images and PDF documents in the background to Web sizes.
Critical for keeping page speeds at 2 seconds or less.
[ UPDATE: Deleted & replaced by Litespeed servers . . . ]
This is a no-headache viewer that’s flexible and compatible with the editor as another Embed.
[UPDATE: Superceded by the Editor’s YouTube embed . . . ]
With this I can easily manage 301 redirects, 404 errors – and generally tidy up any sloppy linking on my site in about 1 hr.
Loading speed at 2.5 seconds or less is a critical element of design on a new WordPress site, so these 6 Plugins deserve special attention on their own table with a bit more description about the role each plays. After you get things right and have some content, look for a Host with Litespeed servers in their plan. Either way, it’s Synergy at work.
Loading Speed Plugins
This is a ‘Trial & Error’ plugin category. I reached a safe balance point in early 2020 with 5 optimizing plugins. It took about a full month of speed testing in GT Metrix using different plugin mixes.
[UPDATE: Replaced by the Litespeed Server Cache in June of 2020 . . . ]
This classic makes optimizing your site really easy. You can aggregate, minify and cache scripts and styles. It also manages CSS throughout the page, defers scripts to the footer, and even minifies HTML. You can choose to optimize and lazy-load images, optimize Google Fonts, async non-aggregated JS, remove WordPress core emoji cruft and other smaller cleans.
This plugin creates static HTML files and stores them on your server’s disk. The web server will then deliver the static HTML file and avoid the resource intensive backend processes in the core, plugins and database areas.
95% 5-star rated Cheetah-fast caching plugin that’s updated regularly.
This one gives you full control of which JS scripts to add an ‘async’ or ‘defer’ attribute to or to exclude to help increase the performance of your site.
This dense one improves the page indexing of the blog, deletes duplicate content, and increases page ranking. Plays nice with the others, too.
6/25/2020 UPDATE:
Litespeed Cache Plugin (LSCWP)
LSCWP supports WordPress Multisite and is compatible with the most popular plugins, including WooCommerce, Elementor, and SEOs.
This one has replaced the above 5 speed plugins. It is an all-in-one site acceleration plugin, featuring an exclusive server-level cache and a large collection of optimization features in clouding QuikCloud CDN.
This tunes my Hosting with a quick setup. And it ties in with the above Litespeed servers.
This feedback tool runs my site speed analysis, and alerts me about the status of the site all from within the WordPress Dashboard and keeps me on the performance A-list.
Their Online Test can give second-by-second granular details about your problem areas, like Javascripts & huge images.
It also has a handy alert box for the Dashboard inside the WordPress Admin as well.
Writing tools for Blog Posts
Evernote Web
Each post usually started in Evernote Web as a trial paragraph or tickle line within a Post draft. Many of those ideas got combined into something that starts to look like CONTENT, the Holy Grail of Spitballing.
Some ideas just start up out of the blue and become their own drafts that I flesh out at a later date. They are slightly magical.
In addition, I used Evernote Web for fleshing out those ideas, re-editing, and converting old journal entries into Web content. When I’m not writing posts or ideas, I’m modernizing old journals or old MS Word writings into web style drafts, articles, or op-eds.
It is possible to do all this directly on WordPress in the Editor, but I used Evernote Web & copy/paste into the Editor for my last 2 edits before publishing it. It’s also a failsafe for my content if WordPress doesn’t behave. I hate losing 3 hours worth of writing to a technical glitch.
When I’m in WordPress, I want to focus on pagination & graphics work rather than raw text writing. Writing for the web is a new animal, with different expectations.
All of these efforts are auto-saved in Evernote’s cloud as I write, so nothing yet has gotten nuked by any weird electrical hiccup like a brown-out. WordPress text saves are done manually & its errors create headaches. I have to spend a lot of time already in WordPress with pagination irregularities in their block system. [ Now switched to Google Keep and Google Bard AI . . .]
TIP: After I publish my Post, I even go back & reverse copy/paste back into Evernote so I have the complete text of the final Post, minus the pictures, saved in the cloud.
Like the 3-ring binder mentioned earlier, this is a Godsend if WordPress or Hostgator gets corrupted and goes BOOM. (It happens . . .) I am having enough trouble balancing plugins, thank you.
Gutenberg Block Editor
When you get WordPress, you get a built-in block editor, called Gutenberg, like below.
With this editor I can still build layouts that are similar to what I was making in Page Builders like Elementor or Brizy without all their complexity.
Don’t learn 3 things half-well. Just learn 1 thing well.
Block plugins like Kadence Blocks make it even easier to make magazine-like designs. I use Column Layouts a lot to break up the large academic style paragraphs that I was trained to use.
Handy Sites That [ Used to ] Stay on the Toolbar
UberSuggest is for Keyword Research for higher Google rankings.
Answer the Public is another good Keyword tool for Google rankings.
Wikipedia Online for gritty facts about a subject like dates, locations, cross-links. Good for a re-edit and deep dive on the subject.
WikiArt Online, for the awesome art photos, biographies, and deep-dives into artists who matter – and some surprises.
Brainy Quotes or All Great Quotes for small quotes from my subject.
Moz.com is a free link analysis tool for your site (or your competitor’s.)
CopyBlogger teaches Blogging that attracts attention and drives traffic.
SmartBlogger combines practical, blogging advice with some inspiration.
CopyHackers is for mastering how to write Marketing copy fast.
ProBlogger is good at teaching people about growing and monetizing blogs.
Bonus: Top 5 inspiring bloggers
These Guys n Gals have inspired me along the way so far, some with content, some with tech savvy – and some with raw courage. If you’re in the 1st year of WordPress Blogging or Affiliate Site development, then take a look. One thing about this game is that you never really stop learning. Half of them have a YouTube Channel, the other half just stick to hosting or blogging with great content and fabulous photography.
YouTubers
Editors at Gardenista
Kevin at Lion Whisperer
Adam at WP Crafters
Jessica at World Towning
Alex at WP Eagle
Doug at Niche Site Project
Bloggers
Now that I’ve shared my latest and greatest with several updates, let me know if I have missed or overlooked any awesome blogs or tools that can inspire someone to start a new blog or continue blogging in their current one. We all need a kick in the butt sometimes.
If you have found this post helpful feel free to share it with your friends.
Especially now, Sharing is Caring . . .
Sources: Wikipedia, Google Chrome, Evernote Web, WordPress.org,
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