wordpress starter kit

Get Started with the Right Set of Tools and Achieve Results in Months, not Years

Carefully picked tools & services for your new & specific WordPress site.

Starting with the right tools especially from the beginning can help you reach your target customers, grow your business & earn more money in less time.

When purchasing any of these tools for your business, please treat it as an investment, not an expenditure. The reason I'm saying that is because some of these tools mentioned on this page have paid me back 2x – 100x the money I invested in them initially – some of them directly and some indirectly.

Cheers,
Kuldeep Rathore

Imp note: Below listed products & services are mostly free. If you are a complete beginner & limited on budget, please use the FREE ones until you start making money from your website.

But if you have a budget & can invest in tools, then please don't be cheap on your journey to success. Use the premium ones to get results fast & compete with authority sites in whichever niche you are in.

The Essentials (Recommended for all types of websites)

Doesn't matter whether you own a blog or an eCommerce website or looking to create one for yourself, listed below are the most essential products & services which I highly recommend for all types of websites.

I truly believe that by using these tools, you can build your website 5x better than your competitors & generate more revenue from your website.

I personally use these tools & services on most of my websites (doesn't matter whether it's making me money or not, I use them because I trust the products & love using them)

So, here's my list of essential tools & services…

Starting with the hottest topic i.e Domain & Hosting:

  • Domain: Namecheap is the best one out there. Although you might consider GoDaddy as it's more advertised, I personally don't like GoDaddy for its shady marketing & upsells.

WordPress Hosting:

  • Cloud Hosting: If budget isn't an issue, look no further than Cloudways Cloud Hosting. I use Cloudways Digital Ocean ($10/mo) which is very popular in Facebook groups & rated best by real users. It's super easy to try as they offer 3 day Free trial 
  • Shared Hosting: If you are tight on budget, Hostinger Shared Hosting will be my honest recommendation (I used them when I was starting out & still some of my small sites are hosted on Hostinger)

Now, let's dive into WordPress products…

  • Best Page Builder: Elementor Pro (This website is built using Elementor Pro)
  • The all-rounder WordPress Theme: Kadence Pro (I'm using this on all of my sites)
  • The Speed Plugin that you should use: Wp-Rocket (hands down the best caching plugin)
  • The Backup Plugin to use: Updraft Plus (Free plan is also good)
  • My fav Security Plugin: iThemes Security (Pro is recommended but the Free plan is also good)
  • The SEO plugin I use: Rank Math SEO (A free plan is a good starting point)
  • For Monitoring: Uptime Robot (Free plan will do the job)
  • For Email Marketing: Fluent CRM Pro with Fluent SMTP (I love both these products)
  • Lastly, for professional business emails: Use Google Workspace

Not a big list, right? 😄

Anyway, now let's begin with each use case…

Category: Blog

1. Professional Blog

Want to create a professional-looking blog to make money?

First of all, make sure your blog is always online with reliable hosting. I recommend Cloudways hosting.

Next, Design your blog to look professional using the Kadence theme & if you need full control over your website layout, use Elementor & design your imp pages to look even more professional (like it was designed by a designer)

For enhanced content writing, start using Kadence blocks

Next, use Fluent CRM so that you can do your email marketing right inside of your WordPress dashboard.

The most important step will be to get a “Google Workspace” account in order to use business emails & not @gmail.com for professionalism.

Lastly, make sure your website is well optimized for SEO & speed. Install Rank Math SEO & Wp-rocket for optimized performance.

Pro blog Essentials:

Email Marketing:

SEO & Speed:

2. Simple/Personal Blog

In case you wanna start a simple or personal blog, & not intend to make money from it, then here's the right kit for you.

Unless your blog starts receiving over 100K traffic, you can stick to budget hosting.

Get Started with Hostinger Business Web Hosting Plan (starts at Rs.279/mo)

Next, to get started asap with your personal blog, you can install ready-made themes such as Johannes or Typography theme by meks. If you want more control, then the Kadence theme will do the job.

My recommended themes for a personal blog:

For enhanced content writing, you can install the Kadence blocks.

Not necessary but still, you should get google workspace in order to use business emails instead of @gmail.com.

If you wanna rank your website on google, then Install Rank Math SEO & Wp-rocket for optimized performance. 

For a simple/personal:

3. Affiliate Marketing Blog

Want to build an affiliate business using your WordPress website. All you need is this package that I've carefully crafted for you (as I'm an affiliate marketer too)

I would highly recommend starting with trusted & reliable hosting i.e Cloudways (DO $10/mo plan will be sufficient) so that you never miss an affiliate sale (Cloudways uptime is one of the best)

After getting inside of your WordPress dashboard, Install the Kadence theme along with Kadence blocks. (Kadence theme supports dynamic content which is really helpful for affiliates)

If you are like me who loves the custom design for affiliate pages then grab a license of Elementor Pro & start building your landing pages, popups, lead forms & bridge pages (it's really easy with elementor)

To rank your blog on Google,
Install & configure the Rank Math SEO plugin.

Next, make sure to clone & track all of your affiliate links using Pretty Links Pro.

Reach out to your potential customers using the best email marketing plugin – Fluent CRM. Promote your offers & generate sales. (I personally use this plugins on my money-making sites)

To make sure your lead & offer pages are always accessible, you should use Wp-rocket & set up a proper caching mechanism.

Please don't ignore the professional emails. It's essential for your affiliate success.
Grab one of the plans of Google workspace & set up professional emails.

Must have on your affiliate site:

Email Marketing:

SEO & Speed:

Category: Business

If you have a website that falls under this category or looking to create a new website for doing business , then here's my recommended starter kit for each use case.

Starting with the most common – eComm for physical products…

1. eCommerce website for Physical Products

Before I begin, let me be very honest with you. If you are looking to create a website in this category, then my friend you need to invest right from the beginning.

To survive in the eCommerce space requires authenticity. Your website should look authentic & worthy, otherwise, it's hard to generate sales.

Investing in the right tools will help you get more customers in your initial phase.

Start with a rock-solid host that can easily handle your products. I recommend starting with Cloudways Digital Ocean at $10/mo (only if you have less than 500 products).

If your inventory is big then look no further than Cloudways Vultr High-frequency plan which starts at $13/mo.

After installing WordPress, go ahead & install the Woostify pro theme as it's one of the best & lightweight themes for eCommerce websites.

In case you want a prebuilt & much more feature-rich theme, use the WoodMart theme (which is one of the top themes on the marketplace)

Next, use Elementor to power up your online store with awesome banners, convincing CTA's & attractive landing pages.

Make sure that you don't lose your customer on the checkout page. You should optimize your checkout pages, add some order bumps & do some upsells using CartFlows.

Integrate Razorpay on your checkout page for accepting payments from your online store.

For delivery of your products, go with Shiprocket which is a trusted & well-established service.

Use YayMail Customizer so that all of your transaction emails (that are delivered to the customer) look professional & branded.

Lastly, use the Fluent CRM email marketing tool for promoting your products, offering discounts & much more.

Summing up, here's the complete kit for eComm physical products:

eCommerce Must haves:

Growth Plugins:

SEO & Speed:

2. eCommerce website for Digital Products

Looking to create a website to sell digital products & make passive income?

There are a few minor changes in your starter kit.

Instead of WooCommerce, you can use the Easy Digital Downloads plugin for easier selling. I would personally go with WooCommerce because of its extended integrations.

Along with that, I highly recommend using my favorite combination of Kadence theme with Elementor on the Cloudways platform.

To optimize your checkout & remove useless billing information, you should use CartFlows.

Also, to reduce friction, you can use a simple plugin like Direct checkout so that all your customers redirect to the checkout page instead of the cart page.

Here's the complete kit for Digital products…

Must-haves:

Growth Plugins:

SEO & Speed:

3. Multi-vendor eCommerce website

Want to create your own multi-vendor shops like Amazon, Flipkart, or Themeforest?

Here's the complete kit for your business idea…

As it's multi-vendor, you need a very robust host.

Get started with a fast & good load-handling host i.e Cloudways. (I recommend using the Vultr High-Frequency plan which starts at $13/mo)

For enabling multi-vendor functionality, get the Dokan plugin & then use Elementor for designing the most important pages of your site.

Here's the complete kit for the Multi-vendor website…

Must-haves:

Growth Plugins:

SEO & Speed:

4. Listing, Booking, or Appointment website

Want people to book tickets, events on your website?

Here's the complete package for you…

For this type of website, you'll need a robust host.

Get started with a fast & good load-handling host i.e Cloudways. (I recommend using the Vultr High-Frequency plan which starts at $13/mo)

Get one of your favorite themes from ThemeForest or simply use my favorite combination of Elementor with Crocoblock plugins such as JetEngineJetBooking & JetAppointment.

Must-haves:

Growth Plugins:

SEO & Speed:

5. Business Coach/Consulting website

Are you a business coach or consultant? You absolutely need a website that looks great and opens up new opportunities for you.

This package is all you’d need to get started.

With Kadence and Starter Templates, start your consulting business website quickly and with minimal effort.

The Kadence starter template already has a business template that might be very useful for you.

It's truly amazing but requires reliable hosting to run. I recommend Cloudways hosting.

You can then build an attractive landing page, service page, popups using Elementor Pro, and lastly, create high-converting funnels using CartFlows to turn visitors into consulting clients!

Here's the complete kit for businesses…

Must-haves on the business website:

Growth & Email Plugins:

SEO & Speed:

6. Portfolio/Freelancer website

Are you a freelancer & looking to showcase your best work to your clients?

Here's the perfect kit for you…

Get Started with budget shared hosting i.e Hostinger (until your site becomes popular). I recommend their Business Hosting plan which is optimized for performance & is affordable.

Design your site like a pro using Elementor website builder. Use Hello Elementor or Kadence theme for best performance.

Lastly to showcase your portfolio, use custom post type & ACF plugin. You can also use the WP Portfolio plugin by Brainstorm force.

Must-haves on your portfolio website:

Honest Affiliate Disclosure: I'm a proud affiliate for some of these tools & services, meaning if you click a link and make a purchase, I'll earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

My recommendations are based on my experience and knowledge of these companies and their products, and I recommend them because they are genuinely helpful and useful.

Know that I only recommend products and services I’ve personally used and stand behind.

If you decide to purchase from my affiliate link, I'll be really thankful to you.

Most Recommended

Domains: Namecheap

Cloud Hosting: Cloudways

Shared Hosting: Hostinger

Page builder: Elementor Pro

WordPress Theme: Kadence Pro

Speed Plugin: Wp-Rocket

SEO plugin: Rank Math SEO

Email marketing: Fluent CRM Pro

Professional business emails:
Google Workspace

Payment Gateway: Razorpay