Has transitioning your blog into a business turned out to be way more time consuming than you expected? I’m not surprised lol. Visitors and readers don’t just magically appear when you hit publish. (I keep wishing for it every birthday, nonetheless.)
Luckily for us, there are tools and resources that help make the business end of blogging more efficient and less stressful. This page is where I share the best blogging tools and resources I’ve personally used and highly recommend.
The following are tools, courses, and resources that I used to grow my family resource blog. Many of the following links are affiliate or referral links which means I get a small commission, credit, or bonus if you choose to try it. Affiliate links are integral to building a *mostly* passive income stream from your blog posts. If you want to turn your love of blogging into a stream of income, make sure you reach out to the products and services you use and love to join their programs. Everything listed on this page is something that I used/use myself and happily recommend so feel free to ask me any questions.
For newer bloggers:
Milanote — Does your creative nature go hand in hand with chaos? Some of us rail against time blocks and rigid schedules — especially when it comes to writing or creating content. I totally understand. While this is not strictly a “blogging tool,” Milanote is a tool for organizing creative projects and it’s beautiful!
How to start a blog — This free video course from The 6 Figure Blog walks you through starting your course.
85 Free Learn to Blog Hangouts Videos — I watched all these videos when I started blogging. Kelli and Crystal do a great job breaking down all the different aspects of blogging in these hangouts. Though some of the videos are now outdated, the bulk of them are relevant and FREE.
The Perfect Blog Post Template Cheat Sheet— This template is SEO based and will help format your blog posts for SEO from the beginning. If you start it correctly from the beginning then you won’t have to spend time updating old posts like many veteran bloggers do today!
Let’s Collab! Find the blogging tribe that will skyrocket your business — Okay, I confess this isn’t a resource I used because I wrote it! However, it is a detailed guide on how I built my network of blogging friends. My tribe is one of the most productive tools I have in my arsenal. It was just updated and made into a workbook with worksheets.
Genesis Framework and Child Themes — The Genesis Framework comes with all basics that make monetizing a blog easier. It has built in SEO settings and makes it easier to customize your website’s look and navigation even if you don’t have coding experience.
Pinning Perfect Course — This course was designed by Anna Luther and Melissa Culbertson. What I love about this class is that though I took it several years ago, it is constantly updated for all new and past students. Pinterest is a huge driver of traffic and taking the time to learn how to use it to earn more traffic and income has an enormous return on your investment.
Tailwind — Once you learn how to create the perfect pins, you’ll need this tool to schedule your pins and curate content from other bloggers.
How to Grow on Twitter for Bloggers – This ebook from Nate Engels of Wannabite is how I grew my Twitter following from 300 to almost 11k. Though many bloggers find Twitter intimidating, it is one of THE BEST ways to connect with brands and other bloggers.
For Intermediate to Advanced Bloggers
Hosting by Agathon Group – I rarely think about my hosting anymore and it’s AMAZING. Before signing up with Agathon four years ago, I thought about my hosting quite a bit….because my site would go down. Reliability and customer focus are two of the reasons I am hosted by and highly recommend Agathon Group.
The Influencer Society – The Influencer Society is a mastermind/SEO training/Everything you need to know to grow your business group run by Kelli and Crystal of Learn to Blog. I have been an advocate and “true fan” of their courses and training since I began blogging. I went from a blogging newbie to a full time blogger when I met them years ago. They’ve helped me every step of the way. Even though I have been through all of their courses multiple times, (and even led others through their SEO courses as their community manager in 2017), I remain a paying member of their membership group because there is alway something new to learn. The cart is closed until 2020 but you can join the waitlist.
The 3 Step Strategy to Revive Your Pinterest Traffic – Are you high performing pins losing steam? This ebook from Joyce Zahariadis is brilliant and cost effective. My pinterest referrals increased dramatically immediately upon implementing these simple steps. This is a great way to keep your traffic up during summer break, when the kids are sick, or any time you can’t devote as much time to blogging as you’d like.
Skyrocket and Dominate Course Bundle — These two e-courses are products from Learn to Blog Hangouts. Kelli and Crystal provide actionable easy to follow tasks that teach you how to use Google Analytics and Google Search Console to write based on what your readers are searching. This course bundle brought my blog from 10k pageviews a month to over 40k pageviews a month.
If you already have Skyrocket you can purchase just Dominate!
Click Through Rate Cheatsheet – Now this is one of the BEST resources I’ve ever come across. I already get views on certain keywords. This cheatsheet helps you get those views to turn into clicks!
Pitching Perfection — This resource comes with templates and tips for cutting out the middlemen and pitching brands directly.
Identity: The Path to Engaging Content and Increased Income — This is another resource from ND Consulting. This workbook helps you create content and increase your income by teaching you how to get to know your readers.
How to Rock Sponsored Posts — This course is taught by Monica Pruett, who is a rockstar when it comes to sponsored posts. She teaches bloggers how to start earning from sponsored posts regardless of how “small” their blogs is.
Coschedule — Save time and schedule your posts. Coschedule helps me organize my social shares and my editorial calendar. The biggest advantage that Coschedule has over other scheduling tools is that it integrates with your WordPress dashboard for easy scheduling. I also LOVE the headline analyzer tool!
Sendowl — If you make digital products, write books, or want a delivery system that comes with an affiliate program that is easy to use, Sendowl is a great choice.
Lumen5 – an online video maker turns text into stunning social media videos in minutes. It does this automatically by analyzing the text through AI and putting the best music, video, and images together accordingly.
As you know by now, incorporating video is essential to growing an online business. Lumen5 was the first video maker that did not intimidate me. I have absolutely no background in video editing and when you take into account all of the other things that go into running an income earning site, I did not have the time to learn a whole new skill. Lumen5 makes it easy.
As your business grows, make sure to get the right tools to help you keep it growing.