There are so many working parts to create a successful blog. Here are my favorite resources you should check out.
Blogging Tools
Siteground – If you haven’t started a blog yet, you’ll want to sign up with a fast host that provides good customer service to ensure that everything goes smooth. Siteground is my number one recommendation if you’re just starting out. They have awesome, affordable plans that start as low as $6.99/month. Follow my step-by-step guide on how to start your own profitable blog here.
Namecheap – Along with hosting, you’ll need to purchase your own domain name. Namecheap is my favorite – I have purchased 3 domains from them and have never had a problem.
WordPress.org – WordPress.org is my recommended platform to use for self-hosted blogs. It’s very user-friendly and has a ton of cool features to help you get your blog started. Don’t get this mixed up with WordPress.com!
Genesis Framework by StudioPress – I recommend getting the Genesis framework when building your blog. It’s a one-time license so you can use it on multiple sites once you purchase it once.
Tailwind – This is a one of the greatest investments you can make on your blog if you use Pinterest to market your blog. With this, you can schedule out your pins in advance and send traffic to your blog even when you’re asleep. Click here to get 1-month of Tailwind for free and see how it helps grow your blog traffic!
Grammarly – Do you make a lot of grammar and punctuation mistakes when you write? Save yourself time with Grammarly, which will spellcheck and proofread your work as write.
Mailerlite – An email list is so important if you’re going to start a profitable blog. Mailerlite is my choice of email service provider to send out campaigns on my list.
Teachable – If you want to create your own e-course, I recommend using Teachable to host it.
Sendowl – Creating your own e-book has never been simpler. Just host it on Sendowl and watch as the revenue rolls in!
Freshbooks – This is a good accounting software to stay on top of your finances as a blogger. It has so many features including invoicing, bookkeeping, and so on.
Skimlinks – Having to join multiple affiliate networks and keeping track of your affiliate income can be a huge pain. Skimlinks is a one-stop shop that allows you to earn money from your links without having to join external affiliate networks. All you have to do is copy a single code onto your site and your links will magically change into affiliate links.
Legal Templates Bundle – Starting a blog and not being legally covered can be a very scary situation. And often the free templates you find online will not protect you legally! If you’re stuck on what to write in your terms and conditions, privacy policy, and disclaimer pages, protect yourself with this nifty legal templates bundle written by a lawyer for bloggers. You’ll be done editing it in less than an hour and have the peace of mind that you’re protected. Read my full review on the bundle here!
Essential Blogging Courses
Stupid Simple SEO – If you’re looking to bring quality traffic from Google search results to your blog, this is the course you definitely need to invest in! Stupid Simple SEO is one of the most comprehensive and in-depth SEO courses I’ve ever taken and have learned so many tips and tricks so far. I highly recommend you check out Mike’s course on how you can explode your blog traffic. Enrolment for this course is currently open right now and only opens a few times a year so you don’t want to miss it!
Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing – Learn how to master the art of affiliate marketing with Michelle’s course on Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing. She’ll teach you the strategies she uses to earn more than $50,000 each month from just affiliate marketing on her blog. Read my full review on the course here!
Pinteresting Strategies – If you don’t have the funds to purchase Tailwind but you still want to utilize Pinterest, Pinteresting Strategies will teach you how to manually pin with success and get you explosive traffic.
Paid To Pin – Did you know that you can get paid to pin on Pinterest? This short e-course will teach you exactly how.
How To Make Over $1,000/Month With Amazon Affiliates – Making money on Amazon doesn’t have to be super hard. Learn how you can include this affiliate income stream to get your blog income to the next level with this e-book.
WordPress Themes
Restored 316 Designs – If you’re looking for romantic and feminine WordPress themes, Restored 316 has a huge selection for you to choose from. Their designs run on the Genesis framework.
Bluchic – Bluchic is the best choice for professional yet feminine WordPress themes. They even sell beautiful landing pages and social media graphic templates. Their designs run on the Genesis framework.
Creative Market – If you want a more diverse selection of WordPress themes to choose from, Creative Market is the place to go.
Check out my post on 25 of my favorite elegant and feminine WordPress themes here.
Images and Stock Photos
PicMonkey – This is an essential imaging tool for everyone, even if you’re graphically-challenged! PicMonkey makes it so easy to create graphics, overlay, and text for your blog.
Canva – This is a must to create beautiful and eye-catching pins easily for Pinterest in just 5 minutes. Highly recommended!
Adobe Photoshop – If you want something more advanced to edit and create your graphics, Adobe Photoshop is my next recommendation.
Styled Stock Society – Don’t have time to photograph for your blog or don’t have the skills? The Styled Stock Society subscription has got you covered. They have beautiful and feminine flatlays and mockups for every niche.
Ivory Mix – Another great stock photo subscription site is Ivory Mix. They’re super affordable with a library of photos that are professional and feminine.
Pixistock – Pixistock is the 3rd stock photo subscription site that I recommend for female entrepreneurs with tons of photos added to the library every month.
Plugins
Yoast SEO – Making sure that you are optimizing your SEO is so important to generate traffic from Google and Yoast SEO is a great plugin to help you do that. Every blogger needs this in their blogging kit!
Grow by Mediavine – Sharing your posts is so important. My favorite social sharing plugin is Grow by Mediavine and it helps get my posts seen by others. They have so many features jam-packed all into one.
Pretty Links – Cloaking your affiliate links is a great way to hide spammy-looking links. The free version of Pretty Links does the job and you can even see the analytics of who clicked on your links and when.
Fonts
Creative Market – Fonts are so important when creating graphics. On Creative Market, you’ll find a ton of fonts you can purchase for logos, graphics, and more.
Etsy – Etsy is another great marketplace to purchase fonts. They have thousands to choose from so it’s worth checking out.
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