My Review Plugin

If you are looking to create a website that does reviews of products, companies, or anything for that matter… MyReviewPlugin is by far the best product for this purpose. I have tried all of the free WordPress plugins and there are some really good ones like GD Star Rating, but the functionality is very limited. There are a couple of competitors on the level of MyReviewPlugin, but after a great deal of doing my own side by side comparison, the other companies don’t offer anywhere near the ease and flexibility of MyReviewPlugin…and on top of that, some of them cost more.

With MyReviewPlugin you can do all of the following, and more:

Easily create Amazon affiliate sites
Add ratings to comments as well as posts
Build beautiful comparison tables
Customize where you do and don’t want to use it
Create sidebar widgets
and even integrate with Google maps

If you would like more information and details, just click on MyReviewPlugin and you’ll be taken directly to their website and offered whatever current specials that may be available.

Company Based…

GoDaddy Domains

Godaddy is probably one of the most recognized, if not the most recognized place to purchase a domain name. They generally have the lowest prices and are very competitive in this regard. For what it’s worth, I purchase my domain names from GoDaddy.com. Godaddy has a very easy to use interface for managing domains and provide a good product.

With that being said…use caution. I would never use GoDaddy for hosting my website or pretty much any of their other products. Their hosting is very restrictive and limited and even though it may seem beginner user friendly…it may not be all that it appears. You can quickly spend much more for less functionality.

I also don’t like the high pressure sales when you need to talk to their support staff and resent that they will call you to “go over your account” and try to sell you more products. Their support line should be called sales pitch line.

Also, in case you aren’t aware of it…you do receive a free email account with every domain name purchase. This isn’t readily obvious since they try to sell you an email account for an additional monthly fee. If you’re just purchasing a domain name you do NOT need to purchase any of the products that pop up at you on the 5 or so screens you have to go through to checkout.

I am listing this post in 2 categories separately – domain names and hosting – because the ratings for each category are vastly different.

Company Based…

Backup Buddy

If you have a WordPress website you should have the BackupBuddy plugin. The same company that brings you BackupBuddy also has several other plugins that can make your WordPress life much easier. In addition to BackupBuddy you may want to take a serious look at LoopBuddy , their newest plugin offering. Loop Buddy gives you tremendous control on how your posts appear and where they appear. Watch the Loop Buddy Preview Video here and you will be amazed at what you can do.

Also offered through the same company is iThemes , a collection of WordPress themes that include Builder Theme and Flexx. These are very easy to use theme builders for those that want complete design control over their websites. There are also a number of child themes available if you want a quick start.

If you’re not sure how to put this all together they offer a full line of tutorial videos and courses on their products, WordPress, and web design in general. You can find more information about these classes at Free WordPress Tutorials section.

Company Based…

Headway Themes

I have been a big fan of Headway Themes and have used this theme personally for the past 2 years. Headway WordPress theme allows you a great deal of customization without having to know code, custom css, what hooks are, etc. – so great for the beginner or someone who wants a lot of layout control.

With that being said, Headway Themes has just released a completely new version of Headway. I have very mixed feelings about the new version right now. I think there are some phenomenal things you can do with the new theme, but… I personally don’t think it’s quite ready unless you are very experienced and can do your own tweaks. Clay, AJ, Grant, and the others are working tirelessly on the fixes and improvements, but for a beginner…I can pretty much guarantee frustration.

Headway Themes does provide a great product – just be prepared for a bit of a learning curve right now.

Company Based…

GoDaddy Hosting

I am listing this post in 2 categories separately – domain names and hosting – because the ratings for each category are vastly different.

Company Based…