For new writers and flourishing entrepreneurs alike, it’s important to be aware of the great websites essential in growing your blogs.
After all, blogging is all about improvement.
If you’re a new blogger, you can find out how to launch the blog you’ve always dreamed of startingーand how to do it right from the very beginning!
For more established entrepreneurs, these websites will help you focus on improvement; in business, constantly striving for better is vital.
1. WordPress
This first site is mostly for those just embarking on the blogging adventure or those looking to switch platforms (which you may want to consider!).
With the massive quantity of blogging platforms available, have you been wondering which one is the best for your business?
Consider WordPress. The platform is easy-to-use and creates aesthetically remarkable blogs.
MORE WEBSITE RESOURCES
- WordPress – 90% of bloggers use WordPress, you should too.
- GoDaddy and BlueHost – Website hosting and domain name company.
- Grammarly – this free grammar and spelling tool has saved me countless times. I used to get called out for spelling mistakes on my graphics all the time, now it never happens!
- JetPack – way to keep track of your blog stats and where your traffic is coming from.
- Genesis and Divi – SEO optimized themes that most 6 figure bloggers use.
- Podbean – everything you need to create, manage and promote your podcast that is linked to your blog.
2. Trello
This web application aims to facilitate project management. In other words, it makes professional teamwork easier for everyone, making collaboration efficient and simple!
And unless you choose to upgrade, this website is completely free. Trello works for all devices, so you can easily check in with your team on the go. Collaboration is no longer limited to the desk and laptop in your office. You can see what your team is working on wherever you are.
Trello enables you to create checklists and implement the due dates that are important for keeping consistent posting schedules for your blog. This efficient website helps you and your collaborators curate your priorities, down to every task and project. Effective communication is essential in blogging, and Trello can help you and your team stay on track!
And speaking of due dates and schedules… another overlooked but amazing organization tool is Google Calendar. You can use this to share your calendar, filled with appointments and scheduled posts, with your co-writers and editors (it’s what we do at LadyBossBlogger)!
MORE ORGANIZATION RESOURCES
- Wondershare – your all-in-one PDF solution!
- OntraPages – landing pages that you can easily create in 5 minutes.
3. Canva
A blog that lacks eye-catching graphics won’t perform as well as a blog permeated with a captivating design. Not every person who visits your site will have the time to read the entire post. In fact, not every person who has the time to read the entire post will want to read large, daunting blocks of text.
Think about it. Our current and virtual culture of social media and networking is based on images. We’re drawn to them, and reading long articles and posts dangerously tests our attention span and patience. Don’t risk it.
This is where graphics come in, and Canva, a free graphic-design tool website, is perfect for creating these graphics. If used correctly, they can serve to separate long blog posts into easy-to-read sections. Be sure to emphasize important quotes and ideas from your post and intersperse them among text to make your articles more readable and noticeable!
MORE DESIGN RESOURCES
- DesignEvo – the fastest and cheapest way to make a professional logo.
- 99Designs – another great place to get cheap professional designs of all kinds!
- Design Contest – instead of having one person design your logo, host a competition where a ton of graphic designer fight to be your designer by proving themselves by designing your logo.
- Creative Market – the biggest online graphics store where you can get bundles of graphics for cheap and have pre-made content for a year, all you have to do is schedule it out!
- VistaPrint – the cheapest and fastest way to print a ton of business cards.
- PicMonkey – loved and used by most bloggers as a way to design on the go on your phone.
4. Pinterest
If you aren’t on Pinterest yet, now is the time to join! You can use this social networking tool both on the web and as a mobile app. With hundreds of millions of users on Pinterest, this is the perfect place to reach out and make your blog known.
Once you’re on Pinterest, make sure to reach out to fellow bloggers, entrepreneurs, readers, and clients to form collaborative group boards. Make yourself known and accessible on Pinterest. Link your blog URL, add your location and contact info if you want people to reach out to you for collabs.
PinGroupie is a great tool to check out if you’re wondering which group boards you should check out and request to join next.
Tailwind ー a scheduler, analytics, and marketing tool for both Pinterest and Instagramーis a must for every improving blogger. This simple but effective tool performs the hard work of analytics for you.
By tracking audience engagement and traffic, Tailwind makes an optimal posting schedule for your social networking accounts. It draws from past experience to maximize the engagement with your future posts, perfecting an optimal schedule down to the minute.
Additionally, Tailwind allows you to schedule repins and gives you viewing access to repins, likes, comments, traffic, and revenue of the posts it has helped you schedule.
MORE SOCIAL MEDIA RESOURCES
- SmarterQueue – social media scheduler that I’ve used to grow my following on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn on autopilot. I haven’t touched my social media accounts in over a year and I just hit 150K followers.
- Tailwind – best Pinterest scheduler and with their Smart Loop feature you can be 100% hands-free from your account as you watch your traffic grow.
- Planoly – top Instagram scheduler because you can visually plan out your feed. Plus it’s one of the few Instagram-approved schedulers out there which is why you can auto post from it.
- Social Warefare – Makes your content easily shareable and tracks all shares for you!
- Loomly – the very first social media scheduler I ever used! It’s a great place to start especially if you’re a visual learner.
- VidIQ – more YouTube views in less time with this analyzer tool.
- Telestream – video trans-coding, streaming, capture, screen recording and more!
5. ConvertKit
ConvertKit, an email service provider, provides the email marketing tools necessary for your blog to thrive!
It allows you to understand your subscribers, send automated yet intentionally customized emails and expand your audience. Emails are essential to modern-day communication, and Seva will help you professionalize your communication, which will grow reader base exponentially. Plus, it helps you formulate incredible opt-ins!
MORE EMAIL MARKETING RESOURCES
- ConvertKit – is designed for content creators who make (or want to make) a living online. They have integrated landing page and opt-in options as well as incredible segmentation and automation tools. It’s like 10 tools packed into one powerful software system. Here are 4 webinars to sign up for according to your level.
- Get Your First 1,000 Subscribers – Beginner
- Earn Your First Dollar – Beginner/Intermediate
- Email Copy-writing Tips – Beginner/Intermediate
- Make More Sales With Funnels – Expert
- Aweber – another great email marketing service provider.
6. Google Analytics
Google’s free web analytics service helps you understand your readers and what they like. In essence, it does just what it claims to do. It helps you analyze your audience.
With this website, you can see which posts are drawing in more people and which aren’t, how long readers are on your site, and which posts they spend the most time viewing.
Then, you can use these statistics to publish the kind of posts that hold your clients’ attention. Understanding your customers is one of the first steps to marketing, and your blog is the perfect place to showcase your business for online marketing.
MORE ANALYTICS RESOURCES
- JetPack – is a plugin for your blog that tracks where all your traffic is coming from, whether it be Pinterest, Google, Yahoo, etc. It also tracks what people are clicking on your site as well as what links and keywords brought people to your blog.
7. Google Trends
Speaking of Google… When you create content for your blog, you want to write about topics that people currently care about, right? Being relevant is important, not only to capture the attention of a contemporary audience but to write about issues that matter.
Believe it or not, high-quality blogging is a form of problem-solving. Don’t believe me? Re-read some of your favorite blog posts, and you’ll see. Good posts identify a pressing question/issue and help their readers answer it in a relevant way.
Equally as important for entrepreneurs, knowing popular trends and interests is important for innovating ideas people will enjoy. Thinking of creating e-courses, e-books, Vlogs, IGTV clips, or other content? It’ll help to know what users care about, right now.
Google Trends helps you by displaying trending searches, not only where you live but internationally to know where people’s curiosity and interests lie. This awesome website will help you create content that matters.
MORE TRENDY COURSE RESOURCES
- Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing – where I learned everything about affiliate marketing from this 6-figure blogger.
- Pinterest Avalanche – where I learned how to use Pinterest correctly from these two 6-figure bloggers.
- How To Start A Money Making Blog – everything I learned from building a blog from 0-150K followers in 2 years and how you can also turn your blog into your business.
- How To Make Money As An Influencer – the exact ways to make money from social media, and it’s not all about having a huge following. I made my first $100 from one tweet when I had 6K followers.
8. Awin
The best way to make money from your blog is by getting into affiliate marketing early. The more affiliate links you have on your blog from day 1, the more money you’ll make as you continue blogging.
Almost all 6-figure bloggers have used affiliate marketing to skyrocket their income because they have stopped trading their hours for dollars. Affiliate marketing is truly the way to passive income online. Don’t believe me? Try it for yourself!
MORE AFFILIATE RESOURCES
- Awin – the top brands work with this affiliate marketing platform. You have at pay $5 to get in, but you get that right back once you make your first sale.
- ShareASale – suitable for anyone, no matter how newbie you are to affiliate marketing, to help you get in contact with brands that will pay you to promote them.
- MaxBounty – you get a dedicated affiliate partner who helps you find the best deals for you to sign up for and promote.
- Etsy – everyone loves unique handmade gifts from Etsy, so why not make money from promoting them?
- Ultimate Bundles – the best bundle deals on the web for health, business, crafts and really anything! They usually bundle about $5K worth of course material and sell it for dirt cheap like $30-$50 a bundle.
9. Shopify
If you’re looking to add a store to your blog, Shopify is the way to go. If you start a store on Amazon, you won’t be able to brand it or keep tabs on your customers because you don’t own them – Amazon does. Plus Shopify offers drop shipping so you don’t need to invest in a warehouse!
MORE E-COMMERCE RESOURCES
- Shopify – I would recommend this over Amazon because you can actually build your own brand with Shopify instead of it just being a marketplace where you don’t have access to your customers.
- Woocommerce – The best way to get started for the e-commerce newbie. Also, it’s a free plugin!
- Printful – The fastest way to create a custom drop shipping brand.
- Teachable – I’ve tried other course creation software programs and settled on this one because of its user-friendliness and customer service.
10. FreshBooks
If you’re not just running a hobby blog but are actually making money with it, you need accounting software to help you stay on top of your income, expenses and to plan for your taxes!
MORE BUSINESS RESOURCES
- FreshBooks – comes with an app to make it easy to keep track of your mileage, receipts, and invoices on the go. Great way to track your income and expenses all in one place.
- Dubsado – business management software built to save you time, it helps with invoicing, signing contracts, scheduling appointments and more.
- HubSpot – marketing, sales and CRM (customer relations management) tool all in one.
- Business Name Generator – free tool to help you come up with spectacular business names.
That’s all!
Whether you’re new to blogging or have been in the business for years, these ten websites will help you become the best version of you.
Once you start using these powerful tools, you’ll see how organization, style, and marketing work together to increase online visibility and turn your blog into an agent of change.
MORE ORGANIZATIONAL APP RESOURCES
- Freedom – get back your time, and freedom, by blocking out all the distractions on your phone.
- MileIQ – track your mileage automatically and store your receipts automatically.
- Strides – goal and habit tracker to help you learn better, more productive habits and make SMART goals.
Giselle Gaytan is a sophomore at Wheaton College (IL) studying English Writing and Journalism. For the past three years, she has served as Marketer at Los Tres Manantiales, a restaurant in Wisconsin. Her creative nonfiction work has been published in two issues of the Kodon literary journal. She currently serves as Special News Reporter at the Wheaton Record.