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Blog Resources:
I am a relatively new blogger. My fresh perspective, at this point is very different from someone who has been doing this for many years. I will update this page as time goes on. The best resources I have found have kept me excited, have solved a problem, have educated me or importantly, kept me moving forward.
I am still overwhelmed at times by the amount of information that I don’t know. It’s been a big learning curve but the challenge is one aspect of this blogging thing that I love. I read a lot before I ever got started on this labor of love. Most of the choices I’ve made were done using that research and weighing options as best I could. I have not spent a significant amount of money upfront. This is a new venture so I need to keep my costs low. Here is a rundown of the resources I have used so far and my honest opinion of them.
Web Hosting:
I chose *Bluehost. I looked at some of the blogs I liked, from all different niches and many of them recommended Bluehost. I have not had any issues with them. They offer a free domain name registration with their plan. Because I didn’t know that, I had already purchased a domain through Go Daddy. But that has worked out fine and they were also a breeze to work with. At the very beginning, I was overwhelmed and wondering if I had made a huge mistake in starting this whole project. Bluehost was very helpful and walked me through some of my set up.
WordPress Themes:
Again, I read as much as I possibly could before undertaking this. I knew nothing about WordPress when I started. It was an easy decision after doing my research to choose the Genesis framework for WordPress.
I then just had to choose a child theme. There are free themes offered from Studiopress when you purchase Genesis but I was looking at creating a lifestyle blog. I wanted it to be visually appealing but I also wanted plenty of flexibility. I looked and looked (and looked) some more. I ended up going with the Captivating theme from Restored 316. I have been very happy with my decision. One day it might be nice to have a custom designed site but other than that I couldn’t ask for more from my theme. The tutorials, the resources and the support that Restore 316 offers have been amazing.
WordPress Plugins:
I make an effort not to install loads of plugins. Many of the customizations I make to the appearance of my site I can make through the Additional CSS or widgets which is easy to do with my theme. I don’t want a ton of plugins slowing my site down or causing conflicts but you do want and need to have some. These are the ones I have installed and use and that really like:
Genesis Simple Share (social icons within posts for sharing)
Flexible Posts Widget
Genesis eNews Extended (email newsletter signup)
Google Analytics by MonsterInsights
Ninja Forms (contact form)
Simple Social Icons
WP Recipe Maker
Yoast SEO
Regenerate Thumbnails
Wordfence Security (malware/spyware)
Smash Balloon Instagram Feed
Create and Assign Categories for Pages (love the flexibility this offers)
Website Tools:
Mailchimp (for email marketing)
Google Analytics, Google Search Console
Codeguard (one of the few paid add-ons I use, I subscribe to this daily back-up service through Bluehost for only $2.99/month. I had to do a restore one day (my fault) and the one-click restore worked seamlessly, highly recommend.
Photography and Design Tools:
Free Stock Photo Sites I have used and really like:
Pexels
Unsplash
Kaboompics
Burst
Raw Pixel
Pixabay
Paid Stock Photography:
*Haute Stock Photography, I love this stock photo company. I resisted paying for a subscription stock photo service from the beginning. I used every free site I could find and looked for every possible freebie. But the right look and cohesiveness I wanted for my site wouldn’t start coming together until I started using a professional styled stock photography company. I have been thrilled with my choice and I highly recommend Haute. You will see a lot of their photos on my website and social media. And using this link, you can sign up to receive 21 free images now. I’m not a professional photographer, so the time and money it saves me in the end is very worth it.
Graphics:
Canva: I use the free version and love it. I use them for Pinterest Pin graphics, Instagram and other photo and graphic design elements.
Website Color and Palette Design Inspiration:
Design Seeds
Colormind
Color-hex.com
Fonts:
Google Fonts: all the fonts on my site are available for free from Google Fonts.
Social Media Tools:
When you are just starting out and overwhelmed, at least for me the social media aspect was just one more thing hanging over me that I knew I should be putting more time into. I read an article advising new bloggers to focus on just one social media channel at a time and that has been helpful.
I have been using the free version of Tailwind. I use them for Pinterest scheduling but mainly the “tribes feature”. I’m not sure right now if I will continue using them but I think it did give me the little push I needed when starting out.
I have also been using the free version of Later for Instagram scheduling. I really love them. Scheduling a week’s worth of Instagram at one time is so helpful. And I like the way you can see all your media at once to see how it all will work together. I think their interface is just so easy to work with and intuitive.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me! I’m always honest with my opinion and happy to share.
