Resource Page of Blogging Tools For Beginners
Here on this page is a list of blogging resources that I can personally recommend. Blogging is not easy, but it can bring a lot of rewards too. Who doesn't want to work from home, or the beach or wherever there is internet? Who doesn't want to be their own boss? Although there is a lot of appeal to earning money from home by blogging, it is not for everyone.
It is hard work. It requires LOTS of patience. It is NOT a get rich quick scheme. I bought my domain, and spent a year reading, absorbing, learning, studying, and building, before I launched my blog. And it took another 2 yrs for me to start earning something more than pocket change.
Now that my blog is over two years old, and I am beginning to make a profit each month, I feel confident that this list of blogging resources is current, and it is what I would suggest to my friends and family, if any of them wanted to start up a blog today.
(Links below may be affiliate links. See my Disclosure Page for more information)
Learning to Blog for Profit:
Learning to blog for profit, is entirely different than the old days of blogging. In the old days, blogging was like an online journal. Blogging for profit is completely different. You need to help people solve problems with your blog, not tell your life story.
Making money blogging, comes from helping people solve problems. If you can answer a question someone might type into Google, that is how people will find you. Learning about SEO (search engine optimization) will help you make sure your article gets found. You can also use Pinterest to drive traffic to your site.
Once you have traffic coming to your site, you can think about monetizing it, either by selling affiliate products, putting advertising on your site, or creating something such as e-books or courses or printable and selling them.
I have gone through many courses over the last 3 years, and below I will list my absolute favorites that will help you to create a profitable blog too.
Getting Started with a Blog:
If you plan to one day earn money with your blog, it is best to have a self hosted blog. This way you own the entirety of your website. If you go with one that is not self hosted, such as Wix, Squarespace, WordPress.com, Blogger, etc, you won't ever be in complete control of your blog. Think of your blog as a business from the beginning. You will want complete control over it in its entirety!
To begin, you need to come up with your domain name, or URL. Once you have found one and purchased it on Siteground, the next step is to find a company to host your blog.
Hosting is crucial. It is where your site is stored. It is the company whose servers your blog is on. And it is where I made a big mistake when I started out. Today I use Siteground, and I am very happy with them. They are a great host if you are just starting out.
If you are an established blogger, and have 100K page views a month, this is probably not the host for you. But it is great for those just starting out. Their support is excellent and quick. And your site speed, which is a critical component to having a successful blog, will be awesome.
Once you have your domain purchased and a hosting site, then you need to download WordPress. See your host for more information on how to do that.
If you don't know where to even begin, I know where you are. That is why I had my domain and host all set up for a year, before I even launched! I installed WordPress, and was lost after that. It took a long time for me to figure out how things worked.
YouTube is your friend. If you don't know how to do something on the back end of your website, look there. There is probably a video showing you how to do it. Facebook is full of blogging groups also. Join them!
Beginner Blogger Courses:
This free How to Start a Blog Course from Carly Campbell of Mommy on Purpose and Blogging Like you Mean it is a great beginners guide.
How to make Money Blogging at Any Level by Victoria Pruett of A Modern Homestead is another great resource that lays everything out that you need to know, to do this blog thing.
Need Stock Photo's for your Blog?
Sometimes I need to supplement my own photos with stock photos. The best place to get them hands down is Deposit Photos. They usually offer a great deal on Black Friday and in May, where it is $39 for 100 photos. And their photos are awesome, so check them out if you need stock photos for your website!
To Get Blog Traffic:
In order to grow your blog traffic, you need a couple of things. You need to understand SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and you need to understand how Pinterest works. Pinterest is a visual search engine. Yes, search engine. Just. Like. Google. But in visual format instead of text.
Pinterest can bring in a lot of early traffic to your blog before Google trusts your site enough to get Google traffic. Getting Google traffic can take from between 6-12 months to happen.
Understanding how to get traffic from both types of search engines is critical. These are the best courses I have found out there that I have taken myself, and would highly recommend.
Pinterest Courses:
Pinteresting Strategies by Carly Campbell - This guide really explains how Pinterest works and how you will get traffic from it.
Pin Template Starter Kit by Carly Campbell - This kit will get your pins off to an awesome start. Carly is the Pinterest QUEEN and know what does and doesn't work well on Pinterest, so learn from the best!
SEO Courses:
FREE SEO Course by Debbie Gartner of The Flooring Girl
Easy On Page SEO (for beginners) by Debbie Gartner of The Flooring Girl
Easy Backlinks for SEO by Debbie Gartner of The Flooring Girl
How to Monetize Your Blog
Once you have some content on your blog, and have begun to get a little traffic coming to your blog, the next step, is to monetize it. The 3 ways to monetize your blog are to put ads on it, to use Affiliate Marketing to sell things and earn a commission from those sales, or to create your own products to sell such as Ebooks, Courses, or Printables.
To Learn About Affiliate Marketing:
Affiliate Marketing for Bloggers by Carly Campbell of Mommy on Purpose
Shareasale is a great place to find affiliate products you can sell.
How to Create Your Own Products to Sell:
1 Hour Ebooks & PDF's by Debbie Garner
How to Make Time for Blogging
Blogging takes a LOT of work, which means it also takes up a LOT of time! Don't sacrifice your relationships and family time for your blog, learn how to make them both work. Victoria at A Modern Homestead has an awesome course on this very subject!
The Family Blogger - stop fighting about your blog and make a plan that works for the whole family!
How to Engage Your Audience
Once you have people coming to your blog, subscribing to your email list, following you on social media, joining your facebook group, you now have an audience. How to you keep them engaged? Interested? How do you sell them your products?
Engaging Your Audience by Carly Campbell - Carly talks about how to write your emails and how not too. And how to keep your facebook group engaged and growing.
I hope you have found this page informative and helpful, and I wish you all the luck in your blogging efforts. Do understand that blogging is not a quick get rich scheme. It takes time, a solid foundation, and patience. In the beginning, it can feel like you are going no where fast.
Keep adding content, keep pinning, keep following good SEO practices, and your efforts will pay off.
If you found this page Blogging Resources helpful in anyway, please consider pinning it for reference later!
