Many readers ask us which WordPress plugins and online services we recommend. They also want to know which tools we use to manage the VONUC website.
To answer these questions, we created the VONUC Blueprint. It gives you a behind-the-scenes look at the plugins, tools, and services we use to build, manage, and grow our WordPress website.
Blog Platform
Self-Hosted WordPress
As you might expect, our website is built with WordPress.org, one of the most popular and flexible website platforms available.
Before you get started, it is important to understand the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org so you can choose the platform that best fits your needs.
Although there are many website and blogging platforms to choose from, we recommend WordPress because it gives you full control and the flexibility to customize your website the way you want.
Recommended reading:
– Comparison of the Top Blogging Platforms
– 6 reasons why you should use WordPress?
WordPress Web Hosting
Web hosting is where your website’s files are stored, making your site accessible on the internet. Every website needs a web hosting service, but the right hosting plan depends on your website’s size, traffic, and requirements.
At VONUC, we use SiteGround Enterprise Hosting to power our website.
SiteGround hosts millions of websites and is one of the most trusted web hosting companies in the industry. It offers features like one-click WordPress installation, 99.9% uptime, and 24/7 customer support, making it an excellent choice for growing websites and businesses. You can also read our detailed SiteGround Review to learn more about its features and performance.
We know there are thousands of web hosting providers available, which can make choosing the right one difficult. That’s why we created a step-by-step guide on how to choose the best WordPress hosting for your website.
Website Design / Theme
VONUC uses a custom WordPress theme that was designed and developed specifically for our website.
This custom theme is unique to VONUC and is not available for download or purchase.
If you’re looking for professionally designed, high-quality WordPress themes for your own website, we recommend exploring the following theme providers:
Need help finding the right WordPress theme? Check out our guide on 9 things you should consider when selecting a WordPress theme before making your choice.
Security
VaultPress (Jetpack Backups) – We use VaultPress to create automatic backups of our website. Regular backups are one of the best ways to protect your site and recover your data if something goes wrong.
If you’d like to set it up on your own website, follow our step-by-step guide to set up VaultPress automated backups. You may also want to read our comparison of the best WordPress backup plugins to find the option that best fits your needs.
Cloudflare – We use Cloudflare for our DNS, CDN, and Web Application Firewall (WAF). It helps protect our website from DDoS attacks while improving speed and performance for visitors around the world.
To learn more, check out our article on why we switched to using Cloudflare in our VONUC Insider series.
Login Lockdown – We use the Login LockDown plugin to help protect our website from brute-force login attacks. The plugin automatically blocks an IP address after a specified number of failed login attempts, helping prevent unauthorized access to our site.
To learn more about its features and performance, check out our Login LockDown Review.
Performance
WP Rocket – We use WP Rocket for page caching and browser caching to improve our website’s overall speed and performance. In addition, much of our caching is handled at the server level by SiteGround and at the DNS and CDN level by Cloudflare, helping deliver faster loading times for our visitors.
Classic Smilies – We use the Classic Smilies plugin to disable the default emoji functionality in WordPress and restore the classic smiley icons that were available in earlier versions of WordPress.
Marketing
AIOSEO – We use All in One SEO (AIOSEO) to improve our website’s on-page SEO. It helps us manage SEO titles, meta descriptions, XML sitemaps, schema markup, and other important SEO settings. We find it more beginner-friendly than many other SEO plugins while still offering powerful features for growing websites. A free version of AIOSEO is also available. You can learn more in our AIOSEO Review.
OptinMonster – We use OptinMonster to grow our email list and generate more leads. It helps us create popups, slide-ins, and other high-converting campaigns to encourage visitors to subscribe. Read our OptinMonster Review for more details.
WPForms – We use WPForms to create and manage all of our contact forms, newsletter signup forms, payment forms, and other lead generation forms. We also use it to conduct reader surveys and collect feedback. Learn more in our WPForms Review.
PushEngage – We use PushEngage to send web push notifications to our subscribers. This allows us to reconnect with visitors after they leave our website by notifying them about new content, updates, and announcements. Push notifications are one of our most valuable traffic sources. You can also read our guides on how to add push notifications in WordPress and our PushEngage Review.
Drip – We use Drip to manage our email newsletters and marketing campaigns. It allows us to organize subscribers into different segments and send more personalized email content based on their interests. You can also read about why we switched to using Drip.
MonsterInsights – We use MonsterInsights to connect our website with Google Analytics. It helps us understand who visits our website, where our visitors come from, and how they interact with our content. There’s also a free version available. Learn more in our MonsterInsights Review.
RafflePress – We use RafflePress to run online giveaways and contests that help us increase website traffic, grow our social media audience, and gain more email subscribers. We use the Pro version, but a free version of RafflePress is also available.
Nextiva – We use Nextiva as our business phone service. It provides us with a professional business phone number, supports multiple team members and extensions, and includes advanced call management features to help us communicate more efficiently. Read our Nextiva Review for a detailed overview.
Monetization
ThirstyAffiliates – We use ThirstyAffiliates to organize and manage all of our affiliate links in one place. It lets us create clean, easy-to-share links, cloak long affiliate URLs, automatically insert affiliate links for specific keywords, and manage our links more efficiently. Learn more in our ThirstyAffiliates Review.
MemberPress – We use MemberPress to power our membership website, premium content, and online courses. It makes it easy to manage members, protect restricted content, and create subscription-based learning experiences. If you’re looking for the right membership plugin, check out our expert comparison of the 5 best WordPress membership plugins.
Styling
Breadcrumb NavXT – We use Breadcrumb NavXT to add breadcrumb navigation to our website. It helps visitors understand where they are on the site and makes it easier to navigate between pages.
Syntax Highlighter Evolved – We use the Syntax Highlighter Evolved plugin to display code snippets in our tutorials. It provides clean, easy-to-read code formatting and is one of our preferred solutions for sharing code examples.
Compact Archives – We use the Compact Archives plugin to create a cleaner and more organized archives page. It displays monthly and yearly archives in a compact layout, making it easier for visitors to browse older content.
Comments
Akismet – We use Akismet to protect our website from comment spam. It automatically filters unwanted and spam comments, allowing us to focus on creating quality content instead of spending time moderating spam. You can learn more in our Akismet Review.
Subscribe to Comments Reloaded – We use Subscribe to Comments Reloaded to let readers subscribe to comment notifications. This allows users to receive an email whenever a new comment is posted on a discussion they’re following. For more details, see our Subscribe to Comments Reloaded Review.
No Self Pings – We use No Self Pings to prevent WordPress from sending pingback notifications when we link to our own articles. This helps keep our website free from unnecessary self-ping notifications. Learn more in our No Self Pings Review.
Behind the Scenes
There are many other plugins, tools, and custom code snippets that we use behind the scenes to manage and improve VONUC. Here are some of them:
WP Mail SMTP – We use WP Mail SMTP to improve email delivery and make sure WordPress emails are successfully delivered to users inboxes. You can also read our guide on how to fix WordPress not sending email.
Missed Schedule Post Publisher – This plugin helps ensure that scheduled posts are published on time by fixing the common WordPress missed schedule issue.
Edit Flow – We use Edit Flow to organize and manage our editorial workflow, making it easier to plan, review, and publish content. Learn more in our Edit Flow Review.
Members – We use the Members plugin to create custom user roles and manage user permissions across our website. It helps us control access to different areas of VONUC.
Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) – We use Advanced Custom Fields to add custom fields to WordPress posts, pages, and custom post types, allowing us to build more flexible content layouts.
Post Types Order – We use Post Types Order to manually arrange posts and custom post types using a simple drag-and-drop interface instead of relying on the default WordPress sorting options. You can learn more in our Post Types Order Review.
Simple Page Ordering – Similar to the previous plugin, Simple Page Ordering lets us quickly reorder WordPress pages using drag and drop. For more information, see our Simple Page Ordering Review.
Excerpts for Pages – We use a custom code snippet to enable and display excerpts for WordPress pages.
Random Post Redirect – This custom code snippet allows visitors to open a random article by adding /random/ to the end of our website URL.
Restore Image Title – We use Restore Image Title to automatically restore the title attribute for images added to WordPress posts. Learn more in our Restore Image Title Review.
That’s our current list of behind-the-scenes tools and plugins. We’ll continue updating this page whenever we start using new plugins, tools, or custom solutions on VONUC.
You may also want to explore the VONUC Solutions Center, where we review and compare some of the best WordPress plugins, themes, hosting services, and SaaS tools to help you choose the right products for your website.
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