Here are a few links I use for my travel, food and home blogs. Maybe they will help you too!
First, my sister Sarah. Although she specializes in Africa, she’s our go-to person for customized travel arrangements anywhere across the world. Sarah is a travel specialist with over 15 years of experience. But you already know that from her blogs, don’t you? If you’re like us and prefer traveling on your own instead of doing FAMs, even a small discount makes a difference. Connect with Sarah at sarah@abbyshearth.com or sarah@oloishorua.com and give her code Abby1717 for a 15% discount!
SEO Press
I’ve tried Yoast and Rankmath but love SEOPress. The plugin is so lightweight and common-sensical that it’s perfect. There are many more amazing features that this plugin has that make it more awesome than other SEO plugins. You’ll love it! Check out the features here!
WP Rocket
For a fast loading website, you need to improve loading time so your readers stay with you. You also need to have software that reduces your loading time so your readers don’t disappear of the page before your site loads. Then there’s the Core web vitals, optimisation, removing unwanted CSS, lazyloading and more things to consider. Instead of doing all this yourself, it’s much better to get one plugin that does everything. For this I use WP Rocket. I use it on all my blogs, and it does make life much easier. If you want to Speed up your website in a few clicks, read more here.
Wise
If you’re earning in dollars but living in another country with a different currency, Wise is a must-have. I use Paypal too, but lose a lot on currency conversions and fees and whatnot. With Wise, the fees are straightforward and you end up with a lot more moolah in your bank account in the end. Signup for your free Wise account here.
Shortpixel
Sites can get really heavy with the number of images we add to posts. Reducing images using compression tools like Adobe, GIMP, Image Compressor, TinyPNG and others is a part of every bloggers life. But how do you get your images to reduce in size and reduce the load on your server while still looking absolutely perfect? Use ShortPixel.
This plugin is a lifesaver. I’ve been using it since June 2020 and it makes things so much easier. Just adjust a few settings, upload the images and let the plugin do the work for you in the background. Set it up to automatically optimize iamges for you, and you don’t even have to bother about it again till renewal time. It’s perfect! Click here to try Shortpixel for yourself.
PS. The amazing Shortpixel team have recently created FastPixel, an all-in-one cloud-based plugin that makes sites load faster. It does everything from image optimisation to page optimisation and a lot more. If you’re as eager to try it out as I am, head over here!
Infolinks Ad Network
This is my third site. The other two have been through a host of networks – Adsense, SheMedia, Monumetric, and Adnimation. This site is smaller than those. So I tried Google Adsense, Moneytizer, and Newor Media in this site, but finally ended up settling with Infolinks for this site. They’re not fussy in terms of pageviews but require your site to have good quality. Their support is also pretty good too and I get replies with hours. If you want to give them a try, use my referral link.
Advanced Ads
I’ve tried a number of mediocre to good plugins to place ads on my site. Some worked well, some worked great, but there was always some itty-bitty feature that was missing. Anyways, I finally found a plugin that is perfect for loading ads or for inserting campaign banners. There are many more amazing features that this plugin has that make it more awesome than other plugins. You’ll love it! Check out the features here!
If you want to take advantage of their Black Friday Sale, just use this link between 22nd Nov to 27th Nov to get 30% off. No code required!
WP Recipe Maker
Many of my readers love downloading prints of the recipes to save on their computers, tabs, or phones for easy reference. The WP Recipe Maker plugin created by Brecht over at Bootstrapped Ventures allows us to customise the recipe in a printable format for this very purpose.
Of course, it also has a Cook Mode that allows readers to prevent their screens from darkening when they’re cooking the recipe right from the site. Or the multiplier that allows them to double or triple the ingredients.
There are many more amazing features that this plugin has that make it more awesome than other plugins such as WP Tasty or Create. You’ll love it! I use the Premium version, but you can start out with the free version if you prefer. Then upgrade to Pro and then to Premium as I did. Check out the WPRM Bundles here.
BigScoots
So I thought I was doing good after moving to my second host a few years ago. But then I realized that some sites loaded way faster than mine and I wanted in on it. The saying goes, ‘If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em’. And join ’em, I did. I’ve now been with BigScoots for five years. My site loads a lot faster and my readers are happier. They don’t know that my secret is BigScoots. But you do! If you’re planning to move over, here’s my link. Just head on there and use the discount code ABBYSHEARTH50 to get 50% off on your first month’s payment. The code is valid forever, but if for some reason the code doesn’t work for you, just email me at abby@abbyshearth.com and I’ll get you a new code.
If you want to know the exact steps to get the Bigscoots discount!
- Click on this link to go to the Bigscoots site.
- Choose your plan by clicking ‘Get This’ or ‘Order’.
- Fill in your details.
- Add one of these codes in the ‘Use Promotional Code’ box.
ABBYSHEARTH50 – This code gives you 50% off the first month on monthly plans.
ABBYSHEARTH37 – This code gives you a $37 discount off the first quarter/half-year/year for quarterly/half-yearly/annual SSD or Fully Managed plans.
ABBYSHEARTH7 – This code for a $7 discount off the first quarter/half-year/year for Shared or Reseller plans.
PS. If the codes aren’t working for you, just ping me at abby@abbyshearth.com and I’ll help you with a new code. Just please mention BigScoots in the title somewhere so that the mail doesn’t go to trash automatically. Thanks!
GeneratePress
When I started blogging ages ago, my friends helped me to set up my first theme and showed me SEO. I used to pay them weekly with homemade cakes.
But since then, I’ve learned that I prefer to not use conventional SEO and do stuff my own way. I’ve also changed my theme 3 more times since then. My current theme from GeneratePress I’ve been with since 2019. I love how clean and simple it is. Plus I love that I can manage all the small stuff on my own and only look for a developer’s help when I need major changes.
This theme is super fast and lightweight which is really good for a food blog. If you love my theme, you can grab Generate Press and you can use this link to get it!
Convertkit aKA Kit
Newsletters, the way you keep in touch with your readers. I’d used quite a few different ones. I used to be a diehard fan of Mailerlite till they were sold. Apart from that I’ve used Feedblitz and had short escapades with Substack, TinyEmail, and BeeHiiv, but after all that I came back to the industry standard – Convertkit. There’s a reason they’re the best. Plus, they allow free plans for smaller lists and you only have to switch to Pro once you have a decent number of subscribers. You can use this link for a 14-Day free trial.
Windscribe
I use Windscribe when I need to check what my blog looks like to a reader in another country. If you want a free Windscribe discount, use my friend discount link here and you’ll get an extra free GB of data per month and so will I. 🙂