40 thoughts on “Essential Tools, Resources And Services From My Toolbox (Updated 2026)”

  1. Excellent list Kumar! I am huge on hootsuite pro. I have used it for about 6 months – the paid version – and the tool has cut down my workload by 1 or more hours daily. Being able to hop in and out of social sites, adding my take, engaging, retweeting and sharing through 1 app is a must for any online entrepreneur.

    In addition to this list I would share that bloggers need to know why they want to do the online bit, and then you can find any tools that you need for the task.

    Thanks!

    • Absolutely Ryan! I love HootSuite for the same reasons although I haven’t gone to the Pro version yet. Thank you for sharing your testimonial about it.

      Thank you for dropping by and have a terrific Thursday!

      • Hi Ryan,

        Thank you for the review on HootSuite. I have started using it form last week and was confused about the Pro version. But your comment has forced me to think about the Pro features.

        I will be absolutely delighted if I find a tutorial guide on Hootsuite Pro version from you… 🙂

        @ Kumar:

        This is my 1st comment on your blog… I wish this is a beginning of a new friendship…:)

        This list is very impressive, BUT only problem about this list is you will NEVER be able to complete this list… Am I right???..

        Every day new tools are releasing with more awesome features.

        I can add few more tools like:

        1. SEOPRessor
        2. You forgot about CommentLuv.
        3. Getresponse is a good one. Less price more subscriber than Aweber but has all the features.
        4. There are many Keyword research tools like Moz, Google Keyword Planner, Long tail Pro etc.
        5. Raven tools
        6. Majestic SEO

        The list will go on and on… 🙂

        Regards,

        Karmakar

        • Hi Ryan,

          First of all, nice to meet you and thank you for stopping by to add value. This certainly is the beginning of a new friendship and a great way to start it 🙂

          And you are right about this list not being ever complete. And also about me forgetting about including CommentLuv even though I use their premium version. I will include it in the next revision for sure.

          Thank you for suggesting some more tools. I guess I can try some of them as well and perhaps include them if I start to use them 🙂 obviously because I can only include what I use according to my title, right?

          Have a glorious rest of the week!

          Regards,
          Kumar

  2. That’s a fantastic list, it’s actually made my saved list and I don’t do that often! IT woudl be awesome if you can edit and add Blog Engage under the Social Media section, we have an affiliate program as well. I’ve used so many of your suggestions and I’m still doing it. I suggest also adding dlvr.it and mailchimp they are fantastic services.

    • Hi Brian,

      Thank you for dropping by and Blog Engage is definitely in the list of tools I may edit my post include soon. The reason I haven’t included it yet is – I have just started to use it and I want to make sure I am able to use if effectively before I claim that I am using it 🙂

      But I am going to be with you guys more often than I have been there so far and the goal is to make it my favorite platform so I can talk about it proudly. Looking forward for that.

      Thank you for your value addition. Appreciate your feedback! Have a great day!

      Regards,
      Kumar

      • That’s a fantastic idea, now I have given you new products to try, I know you will love them. I hope to see you engaging with us on Blog Engage daily! Come make the most out of the community don’t let success slip between your fingertips. Thanks for the engagement here on the blog! It’s looking fantastic by the way 🙂

  3. I have tried many of these tools (of course, at different times…I like switching my tools every 2-3 months). It makes life more interesting (perhaps even novel, if the service switched their design and added more features).

    One thing I am certainly planning to do is switch over to a new webhost – Fat cow, actually. It was my first preference for a long time..always liked that company for some reason (of course, I didn’t buy it….instead I went with the recommendation of many of my friends – Host gator).

    It was pretty good (But, I don’t see many HG reviews – I mean, good reviews – these days).

    Anyways, thank you for the resource list, Kumar 🙂 Hope your week is going well!

    • Yes, trying different things certainly keeps life interesting. Glad you are on the edge and enjoying the adventure! Good for you!

      Thanks Jeevan. You have a great weekend as well my friend. And good luck with Fat Cow!

      -Kumar

  4. Hey Kumar,

    What a great list! I haven’t used trello yet but I’m hearing really good things about it so I’m going to check it out this weekend, just put it on my list!

    Thanks for an awesome list,

    Zach

  5. Hey Kumar,

    This first thing I was nodding my head about is using coupons to purchase or renew domains. I always search for coupons before buying and I have my trusty sites saved just for that.

    Great list by the way and I see you have Pocket included as well. Gosh, you’ve really covered so much so I don’t really have much to add. I mean I use TweetDeck and Buffer for Twitter but so many love Hootsuite. I think it’s just a personal preference myself.

    This is a great list to share though and I’ll have to make sure I share this one with my friends too. Thank you so much for taking the time to put this one together. Awesome job.

    ~Adrienne

    • Thank you Adrienne for sharing about TweetDeck. That is a great tool for Twitter as well although I don’t use it personally because HootSuite lets me manage other networks as well.

      But it is a great tool and thank you for dropping by and yes, also for your words if appreciation 🙂

      Have a great Thursday and rest of the week as well!

      Regards,
      Kumar

  6. Hi Kumar,
    What’s in my toolbox? Let’s see… my best tool of all is Krishna World Wide Hosting and Sucuri that comes with it.
    I love Evernote, and use it all the time and am just staring to use Trello.

    I have read snippets of Bhagavad Gita online here and there, but I’ve never read the book. I will put this one on my MUST READ list. Thanks Kumar!

    Have a grand weekend!
    Bill

  7. Thanks Kumar for such a wonderful list.. It’s really a great stuff for me… I will surely your recommended tools to improve blog… The productivity tools in this list are really great.. I have just started using Evernote… Do you know website where I can learn Evernote ?

    • Hi Himanshu,

      Evernote itself has tremendous amount of tutorials and in addition, just make a simple Google search “How to use Evernote” and you will not be disappointed 🙂

      Good luck with Evernote and I tell you, you are going to love it.

      Thanks for dropping by and sharing your appreciation.

      Regards,
      Kumar

  8. Hey Kumar,

    You have really impressed me with your list! This will definitely be a great reference to me as it will be to you.

    I’m so glad that you mentioned Sucuri. When I had malware I was pretty much at a lost until I was recommended to use Sucuri. Once I paid for their services, they took care of the malware problem I had.

    Also I read a couple of blog posts about using a theme based on the Genesis framework. I checked it out and yes it’s not cheap, but I can see that it will be beneficial in the long run.

    Thanks for sharing this great list!

    • Sucuri is a great service Sherman and what I like about them the most is the depth of their mastery in this domain.
      That is why I offer free sucuri’s coverage for my hosting clients. Sucuri also has an awesome WordPress plugin which replaces captcha, LimitLoginAttempts and adds features to patch a couple of other security holes and I am also adding that plugin at no charge to my hosting clients as well.

      Glad you enjoyed the list and found it resourceful. Thank you for dropping by ad sharing your thoughts!
      Have a great weekend my friend!

      Regards,
      Kumar

  9. Hello Mr. Kumar

    What a great list of some tools that will help us in our blogging endeavors. Thank you for taking time to research the list and share it with us.
    I currently use Wunderlist, Evernote (the paid one) and Drop box(which I am still learning it)

    But as I grow my site, I will add what I need.

    Thank you again and have a wonderful weekend

    Gladys

    • Ms Gladys,

      Wow! You are already using the pro version of Evernote? That is awesome! Looks like you are using it even more effectively than I do. Thank you for that inspiration!

      Dropbox is my favorite as well and I know you are figuring it out. If you have any questions about it, please let me know.

      Regards,
      Kumar

  10. Hi Kumar, Yes, I use quite a few tools, and many of the ones you have listed here. Dropbox and Evernote are essentials for me. How do people get by without them? I also use Buffer and Rite Tag to time my sharing. My favorite plugins are Share Juice Pro and CommentLuv. I also use Boomerang to manage my emails.

    I use PicMonkey to edit and compress my images before loading them onto my blog.

    Great list, Kumar. Thanks for sharing your secrets to success!

    • Hi Carolyn,

      Wow! You have a great list of tools as well in your toolbox. I use Paint.net for my image editing although I am definitely going to check out PicMonkey too just to see if it has any better features than I already have.

      And of course I use CommentLuv too. I guess I need to update my list and include this awesome commenting system in the list explicitly. Thank you for the mention of it.

      Have a wonderful day ahead!

      Regards,
      Kumar

  11. Hello Kumar, 

    These tools of yours are not only awesome, there are very practical as well. I use about 95% of them myself and can attest to their greatness and functionality…the only one I cannot sincerly vouch for is Sucuri…and the reason is known!

    We have the same taste in books, it seems. If you add Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Kiyosaki, that list would most certainly be mine!

    Always,
    Terungwa

    • Hi Terungwa,

      I completely understand your reservations about Sucuri and that is for obvious reasons. But then, probably it is because a lot of web spammers from your range of IP have caused this reputation issue in their system and that is the reason the system tries to suspect you too.

      But I have white listed your IP addresses and you should be good to go now on 🙂

      The reason I had to implement Sucuri is obvious. The more popularity my blog is getting, the more attacks are coming. People trying to break into my WordPress, trying brute force attacks were getting me worried. So, I implemented Sucuri and now at least I have two benefits:

      1. My sites are being monitored for security breach.
      2. If my site gets hacked for any reason, they will fix it quickly.

      Isn’t that a peace of mind knowing how scary place the internet is anyway? 🙂

      I am glad you are able to comment now and we are back to exchange thoughts again as usual. Have a great day my friend!

      Regards,
      Kumar

  12. Hi Kumar,

    Sorry for being a little late this time – had my Dad visiting us for a few days and he just left yesterday, so here I am 🙂

    Awesome list indeed! Yes, I have used most of the things your mentioned, though a few were new to me, especially the security ones you are using. I use a lot of free images through various sites, which just require us to credit the site or photographer, and so far that works well for me so far. I think I better sit over the weekend and check out the others from this list.

    Thanks for sharing. Have a nice weekend 🙂

  13. Hi Kumar,

    Sorry that I’m late, but WOW! I just love this list of goodies you have given us. My latest and GREATEST is
    Krishna World Wide Hosting! Now you know how much was going on with my blog and especially the membership site I created.

    A month went by while I waited for things to get together. It the most frustrating experience. Until……
    We signed up with your hosting.

    I know so many of my friends that are having difficulty with their hosting platform, and connecting it to other things. Plus there is very slow customer service. But with Krishna World Wide Hosting, anytime I need something you are there. You are even there when I’m not asking. You also notice so many things and really saved my site…I have to thank you for that!

    The other thing I just did was change from Get Response to Sendreach. A lot more flexibility and customization. So far so good!

    Thank you Once Again!

    -Donna

  14. Hello Kumar! All I can say is Wow this article is jam packed with so much information. You mention Themes yet none that are free. I guess I am wondering why? Well I do have some free time here now so I am off to check out trello and yes a few more tools that you have suggested here,
    Thank you for sharing..Chery 🙂

  15. Hi Kumar,

    This is a terrific list of resources!. I use GoDaddy as my domain registrar too. I think they have one of the easier domain management panels.

    Searching for a coupon before making a purchase is a good tip. People should watch their GoDaddy emails too because they’ll often email coupon codes in reminder notices.

    I don’t know if I’m just lucky but I recently won a contest for a developers subscription to Elegant Themesand I won another contest for a theme from
    ThemeFuse. So, bloggers on a budget should keep an eye out for contests.

    I am always amazed by the number of people who use HootSuite. One of these days, I may try it again.

    Good luck with your hosting company and thanks for a great list!

    • Hi Sherryl,

      Congratulations on winning a development subscription to Elegant Thems and you being technically savvy I can imagine how powerul that is. And on top of that again the same thing in Themefuse as well? It looks like you really have got some good control on these contests 🙂 Way to go!

      And yes, HootSuite? In fact, this is the only tool I use the most on a day-to-day basis for the ease of use and may be so especially because it lets me monitor multiple social networks from one dashboard. You should definitely give it another chance 🙂

      Have a great new week!

      Regards,

      Kumar

       

  16. Hi Kumar,

    Sorry for being here so late on your blog post, but I’ve spent most of the weekend in my bed with a bad, bad cold.

    You’ve certainly given us a great list here. While I know many of these tools, there’re plenty that I do not know yet.

    Thanks and have a wonderful week!

  17. Great list Kumar! I love the Buffer, it’s probably my #1 tool. I have used Hootsuite but find Buffer quicker and easier to use. I would add WordFence for security. I also love Yoast for SEO and I still use Hostgator. They have been good with their customer support so I have no reason to jump to another as many other bloggers have over the past year or so. It’s amazing how many tools we rely on for our blogs Kumar. Thanks for sharing these, I have a friend just starting out and this would be a great post for them to read.

    • Thank you for dropping by Lisa. Yes, Buffer is awesome!

      And yeah, we know how many tools we depend on when we make a list like this. When I started to build this list, I was amazed too because I didn’t know my list was so big 🙂

      Have a great day and thank you for helping your friend. I think new people really need our help and support and I am glad you are being there for your friend.

      Regards,
      Kumar

  18. Yes Kumar there are many resources out there for WordPress
    I use the Thesis theme as it has a great support forum with skilled monitors to answer any questions
    I tried Genesis but had little support and more complicated to customise

  19. Hey Kumar,

    thank you for sharing these Tools. But since you mentioned in another blog post, that you’ve switched from AWEBER to GetResponse, you should adapt this blog at that Point… 🙂

    Best,
    Thomas

  20. hello Kumar,
    Thanks on your marvellous posting! I actually enjoyed reading it, you will be a great author. I will always bookmark your blog and will come back at some point. I want to encourage yourself to continue your great job, have a nice day!

  21. Hey Kumar,

    Really good list for those just getting started, will bookmark for future use. I definitely recommend looking for coupons for web hosting such as godaddy and hostgator as you can save quite a bit on those sites (got hosting for $1 on HostGator using the “1CENT” coupon). There are also some good deals on various WordPress sites as well that can be worth a look. Thanks for the great post 🙂

  22. Very impressive list there! The Yoast SEO plugin for WP is a must in my book for WP based sites/blogs. Easy to understand and use even for a novice!

  23. Hey Kumar,

    Awesome list of these essential tools for making our workflow productive. You should consider including some of the newer project management kind of tools, to make this list perfect.

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