Favorite & Best Blogging Resources
I’ve compiled a list of my Favorite Blogging Resources to help you start, maintain and grow your own blog to make money while working from home. This list started out as a top-five list but has grown over the past year. Check out the latest best blogging resources.
Awhile back I shared how to start a blog. So if you are new blogging, you will want to start there first, to set up your blog. You can set up a blog for as low as $3.95!
Today I am going to share my top 5 favorite blogging resources that I use just about every time I do blogging type related work.
Update: I’ve recently added more Blogging Resources tools to my workbox and have updated the list to include more of them here! So now there is more than 5!
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These tools help me to track and update my blog more smoothly. And while this post was really requested, I thought I’d share the next steps to blogging once you have it set up and going.
So here it is….
Google Analytics
Install Google Analytics. This is not hard to do but does sound technical. And for some part of it, it is technical because it allows you to track your blogging stats, but it is easy to set up. I love to google analytics because it lets me see where my traffic is coming from and what source. Pinterest refers to a lot of traffic to me, and as well as Facebook. I know this because Google analytics shares that information with me. I also know how many page views I get per month, which right now, I think is important in tracking growth of your blog.
To set up google analytics, you can “google” step by step instructions. But the easiest way is to set up an account, provide the account or website you wish to track, get your traffic code, and then install the tracking code on your website. The last thing to do would be to check your tracking code in your website to make sure you are getting data. It may take a day or two before you see any kind of feedback in your analytics account.
Google Adsense
This is my next favorite tool. It allows you to monetize your blog. Now, if you are really new to blogging you may me wondering what the heck “monetize” your blog means. But basically it means, setting up ways to generate an income form your blog. Now, I will be up front with you, I have not made very much from my blog. In fact, it has been very little. But, you can make some money from your blog. It just take some time.
Google Adsense is not the only way to make money from your blog, nor the fastest. And honestly, blogging does not make you money over night. It takes on average most bloggers months if not a year or 2 or more to get start making money from you blog. And so that being said, it if it isn’t your main goal, Â (which it shouldn’t be) then Google Adsense is a great place to start. Once accepted to Google adsense, just like tracking in analytics, you will want to install some ad codes into your blog.
Google no longer limits the amount of ads you put on your blog. Obviously the more ads you place, the higher potential to make more money. But, yes there is a but, google monitors this. If your blog is cluttered with ads, and your content is hardly there, then they could ban your account. Or, put your blog at a lower search ranking, which means, you will hardly have any page views. Â So, keep it simple, and have just have 2-3 ads placed around your blog. Over time as your blog grows these ads will generate some sort of income form your blog.
Email Newsletter List
The next favorite thing that I love to use in working my blog is my email newsletter list. This list is a list of individuals who have signed up to be apart of my newsletter and get weekly to monthly updates of my blog. They are my readers or fans who enjoy seeing what is new on the blog.
Now, you can’t just sent tons of emails from your gmail account. You have to have an email provider that can allow you to send hundreds or thousands of emails at once. And, you want to be able to track your open rate, and allow subscribers to unsubscribe if they no longer wish to be on your list. There are several free providers are there, like Mail Chimp, or Mad Mimi.
I started with Convertkit. Its a paid service, however, I have over 3,000 subscribers and prefer Convert Kit to manage all of those subscribers. I now use Mailerlite It is a much cheaper service than Convertkit. Honestly, they are very similar and for the price right now while I continue to grow my blog, it was a no brainer to switch to Mailerlite.
I did go back to Convertkit because of overall functionality, but if your just starting out keep costs low.
Whichever one you choose to go with is fine, just make sure you use, and reach out to your subscribers every now and then, keep them engaged with the latest on your blog.
Google Docs
Google docs is a newer favorite tool of mine. I love it because I can just keep all of my posts in one place, and edit them before plugging them into my word press account. It helps me to get stay consistent with my writing and my things like my headers and so on so that each post flows, and is more consistent. It is basically like Microsoft word in the internet word, and I can access it form anywhere, and there is even an app on my phone to access my content there as well if I need to.
One great feature is that I can share my documents with others for editing and proofreading. I mentioned before to my email subscribers that I was planning on creating a book for busy women (moms) this spring. And well it will be nice to organize my content there and share with others to proofread. Â Even if you don’t blog, Google docs is just a great way to keep track of your content.
Pic Monkey
Lastly, one of my favorite blogging tools is pic monkey. I love it! Pic Monkey is also an internet-based tool that allows me to edit my photos for my blog posts. And the best part is that it is completely free. There is an upgraded paid for version, which I ended up getting, that lets you have access to premium fonts and other tools not included in the free version. But if you are just starting out, then Pic monkey is totally the way to go.
Canva – is also great for creating graphics and is what I use mostly now! Plus, Kara Fidd from Simplifying DIY Design has the best templates for creating graphics. Without her, some of my graphics and blog design would not be possible.
They are so affordable and make a design so easy!
Another tip, I thought I throw this book out there, it’s a great book that will also get you started down the road to blogging once you have the initial set-up!
Blog Feedback
Another thing you will need to look into is getting feedback on your blog. An objective form someone who is not your mom or best friend that can actually advise what they see and how they see your blog is so beneficial to be successful in the blogging world. My favorite way to do this is by using UserBob.
UserBob is a company that has actual testers who will visit your blog and share their thoughts and opinions on in a video. Then the video is sent to you to keep and watch. This is great because you can get instant feedback from people quickly helping you make decisions on how to best improve your blog. Use this link to get a $5 credit to UserBob towards your website feedback testing!
Do you blog, or have any favorite tools for blogging? Leave a comment and let me know. And if you are totally new to blogging and want to start one, check out my prior post on starting one here.  I’m really enjoying all things blogging and hope to pick up more with it and share with others what I know. So if you have any questions, let me know.  By the end of this month, I hope to offer some services as well to help others start or set up a website and provider virtual assistant services. So stay tuned, there is a lot planned for the year, and lots of goodies to come!
Additional Blogging Resources
The Secret Blueprint for Blogging Success
10 Steps to Take when A Post Goes Viral
8 Bad Blogging Habits & How to Break Them
120 Awesome Blog Post Ideas
The New Blogger’s Guide to Guest Posting
7 Surefire Ways to Boost Your Blog Income Overnight
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