At Spark Consulting, we offer web development, software development, copyrighting, design, SEO, security, performance and consulting services. However, there’s still lots of other services you might need for your business, or maybe you are just looking for general recommendations.

I’ve assembled a list of Services, Consultants, Companies and People that I like and recommend for a variety of different things.

Disclaimer: some of these are affiliate links 🙂

Domain registration, hosting & related services:

• WordPress.com is great for simple websites, like this one. WordPress.org + Jetpack might be more your thing if you want to get more complex with your customizations.
• WooCommerce, which I worked on for a short bit, is the de-facto WordPress based e-commerce solution
• Shopify is great for simple e-commerce sites, without messing with wp-admin
• Hover.com is the only place I buy domains; they’re Canadian and they’re no-BS
• DreamHost is great for small to medium trafficked WordPress sites or general shared hosting
• WPEngine is great for medium to large trafficked WordPress sites, and my preferred managed WP hosting solution
• Pressable, Flywheel and Siteground are all excellent WordPress hosting alternatives.
• GreenGeeks is a great smaller host powered by wind energy; they even produce more energy then they consume right now!

Do it yourself WordPress/Web

• Haven’t used it in a few years myself, but the Genesis Framework is a great theme if you’re fairly new to WordPress development. I learned a lot through it a few years back.
• Need a form on your WordPress site? Gravity forms is where it’s at.
• Shopify is great for simple e-commerce sites, without messing with WooCommerce. It’s surprisingly powerful too! Need help with it? Spark Consulting offers Shopify services too.
• Mailchimp is the only tool you need to send beautiful emails to your customers.
• Don’t want to or can’t hire us at Spark Consulting? Try Codeable for some of the best WordPress freelancers.

Design & branding:

• Marius Ciuchete is a great friend and the designer behind the Spark Consulting Logo
• Sara Cannon is an awesome illustrator and designer
• Rachelle Sartini Garner — aren’t her illustrations so awesome?

Copywriting, and documentation

• Andrea Zoellner works with us on projects at Spark Consulting but is available for hire!
• Kirsten Weisenburger/PermanentPress used to work with me at StressLimitDesign back in the days. She’s a great copyrighter and marketer!

Financial and other services

• Transferwise is revolutionizing currency exchange and payments across borders. I use it with some of my international clients. Use my link to get a free transfer.
• Harvest is the tool we use at Spark Consulting for tracking all of our time and for invoicing clients.
• Xero and Receipt Bank are indispensable tools for helping me run my business.
• (Canada Only): Speaking of accounting tools, as a corporation, I have no desire to deal with my accounting myself, so I hire the amazing team at LiveCA who understand how modern online businesses work!
• (Canada and US): Wealthsimple is helping me plan my long term savings and retirement strategy. Use my link to get your first $15k managed for free.
• (Canada Only): Tangerine is a great bank for savings (well other stuff too, but I use them for savings). Use the “orange key” 46417179S1 when you sign up, and we both get a $50 bonus. Basically free money!