The Basics:
HostGator – I used HostGator. for hosting my blog. It’s great, reliable, and cheap! {Get HostGator now.}
Thesis Theme – This is the framework my blogs are built upon. It’s easy to use and with basic coding (er, Googling) skills you can adapt it to do amazing things. Excellent also for improving SEO and getting your blog seen. {Get Thesis now.}
Woo Themes – Another site with dozens of awesome paid themes that are high quality and nice looking. These themes are better than free themes and they also offer support which can be very helpful. {Browse themes now.}
Stats:
Feedburner – Use this to track how many people are subscribing to your blog via Google Feedburner’s services.
Google Analytics – Sign up and install the code to get detailed stats about visitors to your blog.
Better Blogging:
31 Days To A Better Blog -Written by Problogger Darren Rowse, over 19,000 other bloggers have used this e-book to improve their blog. This will improve you blogging – it’s even guaranteed with a 100% money back guarantee. Definitely worth buying and working through with your blog. {Read it now.}
SEO Resources
You could read for ages on SEO and what works and what doesn’t. The basics don’t really ever change but Google constantly updates it’s algorithm. This sometimes means SEO tactics that once worked well no longer work. The following books and websites will help you get a better grasp on SEO and how it can improve your blog.
SEO 2014 & Beyond :: Search engine optimization will never be the same again (Webmaster Series)
SEO Fundamentals: An Introductory Course to the World of Search Engine Optimization
SEO Step-by-Step – The Complete Beginner’s Guide to Getting Traffic from Google
moz.com is a great website with a ton of content about SEO and inbound marketing.