In the spirit of transparency you should know that many of the links are affiliate links, which means I will earn a commission if you purchase through them. There is no extra cost to you.
I only recommend tools I actually use and trust.

SiteGround have grown over the last few years. They have moved out from being a superb Hosting Platform into a one stop shop for building, marketing and growing a business. For small medium business they are the No.1 with optimised servers for WordPress.
They have a load of free tools, Security, Optimisation, Back ups, HTTPS enforcing... together with additional costed add-ins. Their great support, the performance and value for money plus a commitment to reinvest in their infrastructure really sets them apart.
Whether you want a single site, multiple sites or are an agency requiring HA and white labelling, then SiteGround is for you!

I've been using the new DIVI 5 builder since its beta phase. I can honestly say that it is the easiest most flexible and comprehensive web builder I've used and I've tried a few.
The Support from and growth profile of Elegant Themes has improved with the dawn of DIVI 5. I highly recommend DIVI 5 and as a business that empowers other small businesses, Elegant Themes and Divi 5 positions you as a forward-thinking partner. It allows you to deliver:

• Higher Performance: Faster sites for your clients.

• Lower Maintenance: Global systems make updates effortless.

• Modern Capabilities: Advanced features like the Loop Builder (for dynamic content) mean you can build complex directory, portfolio, or blog solutions without needing a dozen extra plugins.

The pricing is extremely flexible depending on your requirements.

Rank Math is the SEO tool I tend to stick with. I find that it gives you everything you actually need in one place without feeling heavy or overcomplicated. Instead of juggling loads of separate plugins, you’ve got things like Schema, redirects, and content insights all built straight into WordPress.

What I like is that it goes beyond the usual keyword stuff and actually gives you useful data to work with, which matters more and more with how search is changing. If you want solid results without clogging up your site, it’s a pretty straight forward way to stay competitive.

• All-in-one SEO tool that keeps the main essentials in one place.
• Easy to set up and properly straightforward to use.
• Helps improve content with clear SEO guidance and AI support.
• Supports rich snippets to improve how pages appear in search.
• Tracks SEO performance so you can see what’s working.

There is a free version to start with but the main benefits come with the paid version and its well worth the small cost.

Let’s be honest: nobody starts a business because they’re excited about data privacy laws. Dealing with GDPR, CCPA, and ever-changing cookie regulations is a headache.

Why I love Cookieyes: I use CookieYes because it handles the heavy lifting for me. Once it’s installed, it automatically scans my site, categorizes cookies, and updates my banner. It gives me the peace of mind that I’m compliant without having to become a part-time privacy lawyer. There is a WordPress plugin as well as options for CMP for all websites, Shopify and Wix platforms too.

I used to manually update my cookie policy every time I added a new tracking pixel, now, CookieYes does that scan for me automatically.

I initially started with their free plan, and I was impressed by how much value it actually offers for smaller sites. It’s a great way to get compliant immediately without adding another monthly subscription to your plate until you’re truly ready to scale.