Hey blogger (or blogger-to-be)! I am excited to share all of my favorite blogging resources and tools with you! Blogging has opened up so many incredible opportunities for Mike and I and we pray that you too can have blogging success! Everything listed here is what I personally use (or have used) for my blog. I only recommend what I actually LOVE and think will be helpful to you.
Blogging Tools I Recommend
(This post may contain affiliate links. For more information see my disclosure, here.)
Web Hosting
Bluehost: If you’re looking to start a blog for cheap, then Bluehost needs to be your answer. They are the absolute best price and performance value for anyone starting a blog. I have a step-by-step guide for setting up your blog with Bluehost if you need help getting started!
I launched Joyfully Growing with Bluehost and recommend them to anyone starting a blog. Plus if you sign up using my link, you’ll get your domain for FREE when you purchase a 12 month or longer hosting plan! Read How to Setup Bluehost with Wordpress the Easy Way.
Email Service Provider
Convertkit: I currently use ConvertKit for my email list, and LOVE it. ConvertKit is the BEST email marketing platform for bloggers, especially if you want to make money with your blog. Get a FREE 30 Day Trial with my link!
My Blogging Freebies
How to Start a Blog Guide (Free Download): If you haven’t started your blog yet, I recommend checking out my free guide, How to Start a Blog – A Quick Reference Guide. I walk you through the entire setup process and share the exact tools that I used to get my blog up and running. It’s easier than you might think!
What to Send Your Email List (Free Download): Not sure what to send your list? These 5 content ideas will help you turn your email subscribers into raving fans! Download the free guide now!
Free Email Course: Turning (Small) Pageviews Into Big Profits: I created a FREE 5-day email course that outlines all of the ways I was able to earn an income in my first year (including a list of 10 companies that pay me to blog!). The course goes over everything from reaching out to brands, to making affiliate sales while you sleep!
Each day builds on the last in order to bring you an entire SYSTEM to help you land multiple brand partnerships and increase your blogger income…even if you have small stats.
Enter your info below to receive the first lesson!
My Blogging Paid Products
Email Templates For Communicating With Brands: These templates will save you tons of time and give you the confidence to hit send and land your next paid partnership.
Pinterest Pin Templates Pack: Struggling to create eye-catching Pinterest pins that drive traffic to your blog? Create perfect pin designs every time using these fully customizable Pinterest pin templates for Canva.
My Go-To Pinterest Resources
Pinteresting Strategies 2.0: If you only buy one blogging course, let it be THIS ONE!! It is a total gamechanger for increasing blog traffic and getting more pageviews using Pinterest. Carly’s manual pinning technique that she teaches is different than any other Pinterest course out there and it makes so much sense. I’ve been following her strategies for years and cannot say enough good things about what it has done for my traffic since I’ve started using her method!
Tailwind: My favorite Pinterest scheduling tool. Recently I’ve been mostly using the manual pinning method described in the Pinteresting Strategies course above, but I do utilize the Communities inisde of Tailwind to get my pins get shared by other bloggers. This is huge when trying to get a new pin to take off! Plus it’s nice to have a backup plan for days that I’m not able to do my manual pinning.
You can get a FREE 30 day trial using my link to try it out for your blog.
Make Money Blogging
Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing – This eCourse was huge in helping me learn how to make more affiliate sales without being salesy – ew! The author, Michelle, makes over $50K per month in affiliate income and she talks you through all of her techniques on how she made that happen.
Sendowl – This is an online platform for creative entrepreneurs who have digital products to sell. I use SendOwl to sell all of my products. (You can see them all here in the Joyfully Growing Shop.)
Sendowl basically acts as the middle man between the buyer and the seller. They handle the payment processing and instantly delivers the product, removing the need for the seller to do this manually.
Photography Tools
I learned early on that getting high quality photos was going to be a necessity. Modern smartphones can get great pictures in many situations, but a high quality DSLR (or mirrorless) camera is a necessity when lighting gets tricky, or when you need a little more control.
Here’s what’s currently in my camera bag:
Camera Body: Fujifilm X-T20 Mirrorless
Lenses (Fujinon): XF56mmF1.2 R, XF35mmF1.4 R, XF14mmF2.8 R
Accessories: Spare Batteries, Camera Bag, Tripod, UHS-II SD CARD
Tip: a ‘good camera with a fantastic lens‘ will produce better pictures than a ‘top-of-the-line camera with a mediocre lens.’
For photo editing I use Lightroom and have been learning as I go since purchasing it when I started the blog (hence the poor photo quality in my early posts…). I love the tips and tricks that Rachel from Maison De Pax offers in her blog post all about editing interior photos. Her photos are stunning and I found her tips to be very helpful!
Stock Photography
If you don’t have time to take your own photos, using stock photos is a great option. I recommend using Styled Stock Photography. Their photos are really high quality and they have tons of options to choose from.
LET'S TALK BLOGGING
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