Resources

Blogging is similar to motherhood, in that there are a million little jobs that make up the big title (blogger or business owner).

Here I have put together a list of blogging resources that I’ve used to grow my little idea into what you see today and others that may assist you on your blogging journey. 

There are affiliate links in this post. Please see my disclosure policy for more information.

BLOGGING RESOURCES

WEBSITE BUILDER

If your goal is to blog and earn money, you are essentially starting a business and I recommend investing in yourself. This doesn’t mean you need to spend lots of money; however, you will want to avoid the free website builders. 

WordPress.org. I started my blogging journey years ago with a free WordPress.Com blog and when I decided to get serious about blogging, moving over to WordPress.Org was a no-brainer for me. I was already familiar with the platform.

Squarespace. While many bloggers will suggest you use WordPress, I’ve learned that several profitable bloggers enjoy using SquareSpace. They offer an all-in-one-solution to website building and hosting. I personally love how beautiful and responsive the theme templates appear on their sites. *Be aware that the price of the plans includes hosting. 

BLOG HOSTING

If you want a profitable blog, you will want to be self-hosted. This gives you full ownership of all your content and you are essentially renting your little piece of the internet.

Bluehost. This was my first blog host ever. Lots of bloggers recommend this host and it’s a budget-friendly option for new bloggers.  Although there are quirks, it is inexpensive and works for getting your blog started.

SiteGround. As I learned more about blogging and hosting, I started to hear about SiteGround and I decided to give them a try. I  found them to be another good option for blogging newbies. The service itself is fast, reliable, and anytime I had issues, their customer service was great.

BigScoots. When I finally learned the importance of speed and had some good website growth, I moved to this host. The customer has been top-notch and my site speed has increased dramatically. It is the highest-priced hosting I’ve had but the value has been worth the increased cost. 

EMAIL SERVICE PROVIDERS (ESP)

There are several available ESPs to choose from.

If you are a new blogger, do what’s right for your budget. But, don’t skip out on email marketing. Getting access to your reader’s email inboxes allows you to send content directly to them without interference. It’s essential because each social media platform has algorithms that can prevent people from seeing your content. Invest in building your email list as soon as possible. 

MailChimp. Currently, MailChimp is free for up to 2k subscribers, after that, you’ll need to upgrade to a paid plan.

MailerLite. MailerLite has a free plan and reasonable prices as your list grows. I love the ease of creating forms with this platform.

MadMiMi. An affordable ESP option that offers pricing low as $10/mo.

ConvertKit. I don’t love the price tag but I love how easy it is to create forms and pages and embed them on the website. 

WRITING

My writing skills can use improvement (yes, I know this), I don’t let it stop me from blogging. The great thing about blogging is that you are always learning and improving and you can go back to rewrite, rewrite, and rewrite. You grow and improve with practice. Until then, try Grammarly.

Grammarly. It’s an app you can install on Macs or Windows to help you with spelling and grammar as you are writing. It has some quirks, but it’s helpful and free.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Social media has never been my strength or interest, and it’s still not. But, I want to serve people with my content which means I need people to see my content. Instead of focusing on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook, I invested in learning Pinterest and it’s paid off.

Pinterest works because it’s essentially another search engine. People use the platform to get answers to questions, not to see what you ate last night or what you are doing this weekend. This means if you can answer a question a user has about a topic with tons of value, you can get tons of free traffic from people who want to know exactly what you are writing about.  

TailWind. I love pinning as much as the next girl but it can get time-consuming. I used to use BoardBooster (RIP) but I’ve made the transition to Tailwind for scheduling posts to all my boards. It takes some time to get used to but it’s worth the effort. 

PHOTO EDITING AND BLOG GRAPHICS

Canva. It’s a free platform for creating all types of visual products for your website. It has paid plans but the free version has worked for my needs. I use it to create pins, printables, and worksheets. It’s the easiest platform I’ve used to create visual content and opt-ins.

PicMonkey. I have used PicMonkey and it’s another inexpensive tool to create visual content. They have free trials, so you can give the platform a try before making an investment.

Adobe Creative Cloud. Lightroom & Photoshop. Adobe products come with so many features, it’s crazy how much you can do with these platforms. Lightroom allows you to edit photos and has helped me level up my photography skills. I love how easy the app works on the phone and desktop. Photoshop is a more advanced platform to create pins and other blog graphics. I wouldn’t say it is for beginners but when you are ready to spend time learning about photography, I highly recommend Photoshop and the other programs in the Adobe Creative Suite.

STOCK PHOTOS

If you want a professional looking blog, you will absolutely need quality photographs.

People are visual and you don’t have long to impress them. If you are a photographer, you can use that skill to stand out will nice unique photos. 

If you are like me and still learning the ropes, consider stock photos. Do not use photos that aren’t stock or your own without permission; there are huge penalties for these actions and it’s stealing. You wouldn’t want people to steal your photos. 

  • Pexels– Free
  • Unsplash-Free
  • Pixabay-Free
  • Ivory Mix– Freebies available but paid
  • SC Stockshop– Freebies available but paid
  • Deposit Photos-Paid
  • Adobe Stock– Paid (my most-used)

DIY PHOTOGRAPHY

I use some of my own photos on the blog and I don’t own a DSLR, shocking right? With all the other tasks involved with blogging, I tend to lean toward stock photos. When I do take my own photos, I’m using an iPhone or my favorite Sony Mirrorless camera. The photo quality and video quality are great and it’s not bulky. I plan to upgrade eventually but until then, my Sony camera will do.

FONTS & BRANDING

If you want to DIY your branding, there are resources to help you get it done. I recommend some DIYing so that you don’t have to always pay when you want to make changes. 

Creative Market. I heart creative market for the fonts, quality branding tools, and weekly freebies.

OK. There it is my go-to resources for blogging and running an online business. I am a true advocate of ‘never stop learning and growing’, so be sure to visit occasionally to see additional resources that I add over time.

Do you have blogging resources that you love, that you’d think are valuable for blogging? If so, let me know in the comments.