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Blogging

Resources for your blog

written by Marie October 23, 2017

Last modified on March 3, 2018

blogging resources

Hello ! I thought to make you a list of websites that I use the most to manage my blog. It’s a lot of work, so we quickly get involved in several tools that allow us to simplify our lives!

This article contains affiliate links. This doesn’t cost you anything, but I can earn a small commission if you buy something or sign up on a website. This helps me to maintain the blog. My full disclosure is here.

 

Configuration of my blog

For my blog, I use WordPress.org. As we must have our hosting and domain name, I use these companies:

  • Namecheap: Domain name
  • SiteGround: I use this company for my hosting. I previously used DigitalOcean but decided to switch, and I am SO HAPPY! I also recommend this company which has competitive prices and offers the confidentiality option for free.

 

Monetizing my blog

I started to monetize my blog recently. I only recommend the websites and products that I used before even knowing the existence of affiliate links. My favorite sites for affiliate links are:

  • ShareASale: A lot of well-known sites and products, like Grammarly, Tailwind, and Namecheap.
  • LinkShare: Udemy is there!
  • Amazon Associate: Probably one of the most used monetization programs nowadays! It allows you to earn money when someone clicks on your link and buys something on Amazon within 24 hours.

 

Tools

  • Grammarly: To correct any mistakes I do when I write in English.

 

SEO

  • SEO Analyzer: Super tool created by Neil Patel to analyze the SEO of our blog
  • Soovle: To get keyword suggestions according to the search engines.
  • Keyword Planner (Google Adwords): To search for the best keywords to use. This tool is free, it is just a little complicated to create an account on Google Adwords. You do not have to enter your credit card.
  • Google Search Console: Useful to know what keywords people use on Google to find your blog, identify your dead links, and so on.

 

Free to use pictures

I often see people asking where to find royalty free photos. So I thought I was going to make you a list of my favorite websites where to find them!

My favorites
  • Pixabay
  • Pexels
  • Unsplash: beautiful landscape pictures
  • Free for commercial use
Less known, different images
  • Free Range Stock: also offers gorgeous illustrations!
  • Vintage Stock Photos
  • Flikr

See this page for a massive list of other websites offering photos that you can use for free!

 

Edit pictures online

  • Canva: I do not know if Canva still needs an introduction, but it’s super easy to create beautiful graphics for his blog with the already pre-made themes!
  • Vectr: It looks much more like a real photoshop online! A little more complicated than Canva, but more complete.
  • Crello: Really similar to Canva, but I like that we can browse through categories to view more design templates!

 

WordPress

Themes

  • CreativeMarket: A lot of resources are available on this website, not just WordPress themes. There are also 6 free resources to download every week.
  • ThemeForest: I bought my WP theme there, Soledad!

 

Essential plugins

On WordPress.org, we can install plugins to add some features to our blog. There are a few that I consider crucial:

  • WPML: Translation plugin which allows me to have a blog in English and French. I do not recommend free plugins; it is better to invest in a good product like WPML.
  • Google Analytics by Monster Insights: To exclude my IP address from my Google Analytics report, I also use it to connect my Analytics and my blog directly.
  • WordFence: To increase the security of your blog.
  • WP Super Cache: To make your blog load faster.
  • Yoast SEO: To optimize the SEO of your blog! The better your SEO, the higher your blog will be ranked in search results on Google.
  • Akismet Anti-Spam: To avoid getting hundreds of spam comments

 

Plugins I use, not so essential

  • Instagram Slider Widget : To show my Instagram pictures in the footer of the blog
  • Optin Cat Business : To offer my opt-ins in cute little boxes in my blog posts
  • Pretty Links : To manage all my affiliate links
  • Contact Form 7 : To create contacts forms, like on my Contact Me page.

Social media

It takes a lot of time to manage our social media accounts! Fortunately, some solutions are available for free on the internet to help us be more efficient. Here are my favorites:

  • HootSuite: To plan my publications on my Facebook Group, my Facebook page, and my Twitter account. (I don’t use it anymore, but still, I enjoy it)
  • Tailwind: For the automatic publication of “pins” on my Pinterest account
  • IFTTT: To schedule my tweets directly from Google calendar.

 

Planning & Organization

  • Trello: I had my editorial calendar on Trello for a year, even though I have now switched to Asana.
  • Asana: This is what I use now for my editorial calendar!

 

My workspace

When we spend so much time in front of the computer, we need to equip ourselves of a good laptop stand or a travel bag. I share mine with you!

  • MacBook Pro
  • Laptop stand: To have a more ergonomic position when I work.
  • Cover for my laptop: to be able to put stickers on my computer!
  • Laptop shoulder briefcase: Because I often carry my computer!

Read my blog post about my workspace to know everything I use on a daily basis!

 

Conclusion

Did you discover new tools in this blog post? Which ones? Tell me all about it in the comments!

Resources
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Marie

As a student software engineering, Marie likes to push her limits and always keep learning new things. She shares her weekly learnings because "if you can't explain it simply, it means you didn't understand it well enough".

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4 comments

Marya November 3, 2017 - 11:46 am

Thank you for such a helpful post. I’ve bookmarked your link on my browser to take a look further when needed. I am currently blogging through wordpress(dot)com but I’m considering to migrate to self-hosted one as I may want to take a further step in blogging at one point. 🙂

I have used the same platforms as you recommend in this post. For some others, I’ll save it for a try later. Take care! 😀

Reply
Marie November 3, 2017 - 6:27 pm

Hi Marya!

So happy I was able to help you! Thank you for your comment,

Marie

Reply
Tilak Raj November 4, 2017 - 1:22 am

Hello Marie,
Very helpful post for bloggers. Being a software engineer myself, I blog when I have free time. Keep going and keep up the great work.

Reply
Marie November 5, 2017 - 12:53 am

Hi Tilak!
I’m glad you found this post helpful! 🙂
Awesome, I will take a look at your blog!
Marie

Reply

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