While it is possible to do everything yourself for your blog, there are tools out there that will help you save a lot of time and create amazing looking content. These tools can definitely be considered optional but I feel their benefit greatly outweighs their cost and therefore should be a part of your Blogging toolkit!
When you are first starting out as a blogger you will probably have to pick and choose what you spend your money on! Below are the best paid and free resources for bloggers!
Below is a list of tools we use and highly recommend!
Affiliate Disclaimer: This post most likely contains affiliate links. I earn a commission on qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.
Bluehost
Think of your blog host as the place in the big huge internet that your blog will live. It is important that you pick a reliable hosting company so that your users can always access your website and read your awesome content! I use Bluehost as my provider and I am very happy with them. They are very affordable and are ranked as one of the top hosting providers. For as little as $3.95 a month you get a free domain name, one-click installation of WordPress(for managing your content), and 24/7 support. All of this also comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
I highly recommend self-hosting using BlueHost. You can read all about getting started with BlueHost!
BlueHost Basic Plan starts as low as 3.95/ Month (affiliate link)
3.95/month includes
- free domain name!
- 1 website
- 50 GB of website space
- Unmetered bandwidth
- 5 parked domains
- 25 sub domains
- 5 email accounts
We personally have the Bluehost Plus Plan which is $5.45.
$5.45 a month– With this we get unlimited websites, unlimited website space and a few other upgrades from the $3.95/ month plan.
Elegant Themes– Specifically the Divi Theme
Elegant Themes is a WordPress Theme package with 87 themes and 6 plugins. The most popular one is Divi (the one we use!)
We use and absolutely love the Divi Theme. You can get one year of Elegant Themes for $89. (affiliate link)
This includes
- Access to All Themes
- Access to All Plugins
- Theme Updates
- Premium Support
- Unlimited Website Usage
- Risk-Free Guarantee
We personally have the LifeTime Access Package. This is a one time fee of $249. I know that has a hefty price tag but believe me the functionality of Divi is amazing, you are going to want to use it year after year. You really won’t regret that purchase. With the Lifetime Access Package you get
- Lifetime access to all themes
- Lifetime access to all plugins
- Lifetime updates
- Lifetime premium support
- Unlimited website usage
Risk Free Guarantee. (Get your money back after 30 days if you don’t love it)Since we own and operate 2 different blogs this has been a huge cost saver for us!
The great thing about Elegant Themes is that you can use the themes across multiple sites! Since we own and run 2 different sites this has been a huge benefit for us!
Tailwind
While marketing your blog on Pinterest is free to do there is also a paid service called Tailwind. Tailwind allows you to schedule hundreds of posts in just a few minutes, sign up for tribes which will increase traffic, and provides pretty in-depth analytics which will help you improve your Pinterest Marketing.
You can sign up for Tailwind for free and schedule your first 100 pins. After that, there are several different packages available.
The Basic Tailwind Account called Tailwind Plus starts at 9.99/month per account and its billed annually. This membership includes
- Smart scheduling
- Unlimited scheduling
- Profile and board metrics
- Basic website insights
- 30 day history archive
- 5 Tailwind Tribes Memberships
- 30 Tailwind Tribe submissions per month
- 250 Active Smart Loop Posts
After that there are many different upgrades you can select.
I highly, HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend signing up for the Tailwind Plus account.
The time you will save scheduling pins and using Tribes will more than earn back your $9.99 a month investment. Sign up and schedule your first 100 posts for free, here.
So what are the Tailwind Features that you can’t live without?
Hassle Free Scheduling
When you sign up for Tailwind you get the following capabilities
- Create multiple Pins at once using the Tailwind Browser Extension
- Bulk Uploads
- Easily Reuse old posts
- Drag and drop control to reorder pins within your posting calendar
- Create groups of boards to easily pin a pin to multiple boards at once
- Smart intervals so that you can spread pins out without spamming your account or spamming group boards
- Easily shuffle queue to spread out/mix up your content
- Optimizable Pinterest Schedule: get recommended times to publish with unlimited recurring time slots so that you can always be sure that you are always pinning at the best time for your brand.
Use the recommended pinning times to follow your own social media strategy!
Beginner Blogger Tip
Schedule multiple drafts at once! When you are first starting out share a mixture of your pins and other people’s pins!
Productivity Resource Bundle
Do you want the tools I used to grow my mommy blog side hustle to over $1000 a month?
I'm giving them out for free! Why? Because I was a new blogger once too and I wish someone would have helped me this way too!
Grab this bundle of 4 productivity resources!
Includes:
- Writing Checklist
- Keyword and Topic Planner
- Blog Post Outline
- At a Glance Blog Post Organizer
Tribes
- Easy to find quality content that fits your niche
- More than 4,000 Tailwind Tribes in all different niches
- Share other people’s content and yours is shared in return!
- It is easy to see the results you are having within each tribe so that you can decide if a tribe is working well for you!
- Build Relationships: It’s easy to find people within your niche which can lead to excellent collaboration and partnerships!
As you can see in that image I had received 23 new reshares since the last time I checked!
That’s 23 people that shared my pins on their accounts which reach all their followers!
This can increase your traffic by leaps and bounds! Especially when you don’t have many followers on Pinterest at the beginning!
Smart Loop
- Allows you to reshare evergreen content on a rotating basis
- Smart loop posts are viewable on your smart loop schedule
- Automatically schedules pins
- Uses optimized times to post pins
Here are the exact steps I took to set up my Pinterest Schedule
1. create a pinning schedule based on Tailwind’s optimal pinning time. Adjust to meet the number of times you want to pin each day. I like to pin 30 times a day.
2. Insert your own content into the optimal pinning times. I usually pin about 10 of my own pins a day. You can do this by loading pins directly into Tailwind or by pinning off of your best of board. *If you use Smart Loop some of these spots will already be filled for you.
3. Using the Tailwind browser extension, fill in the rest of the empty slots with other excellent content from other great content creators.
4. If you want to mix up content you can use the shuffle feature. I like to hit the lock button on my own posts so that they stay in the optimal position. I then shuffle other posts around.
In a nutshell, that’s how I create my Tailwind Schedule every month. It’s so easy!
Get started with Taiwind today using my affiliate link! (You know I will never sell you anything that I don’t 100% love and use! As always I appreciate you supporting me by using my links when possible. Thank you!!!)
ConvertKit
ConvertKit– ConvertKit is the email service that we use and love!
As someone that is not very tech-savvy I am usually ready to pay a little bit extra for something that will be easy to use.
Your blogging to-do list will be a mile long, you are not going to want to waste any extra time trying to figure out how to navigate tricky software. I have found ConvertKit to be extremely user-friendly.
The base package Convert Kit offers is $29/month. (affiliate link)
This package gets you
- 0-1k Subscribers
- Unlimited customizable forms
- Unlimited emails
- Subscriber Tagging
- 70+ Direct Integrations
- API
- Email and Live Chat Support.
Trello
Trello is a web-based project management system. You can create task lists, workflows, due dates, editorial calendars and more. You can also add people to your Trello board and assign them tasks.
This has been an easy way to manage our editorial calendar and blog projects. When you log on you can easily see what needs to be done and when.
We use the free version and after a year and have had no need to upgrade to any of the powerups.
Trello is truly a time management game-changer.
Canva
Canva is a web-based design software that has millions of images, photo filters, icons, hundreds of fonts, and customizable templates.
Canva is how we create most of our graphics, ebooks, printables, and Pinterest Pins. The free version has many great capabilities that will get you far!
Upgrade to the paid version and you will be able to
- download fonts
- Set color palettes that go with your brand
- Organize your work into folders
- Resize designs with custom dimensions
- Download designs with transparent backgrounds
- Create and save templates for you and your team
- And so much more!
ShareASale
ShareASale is an Affiliate Marketing Network. You can easily sign up with ShareASale and then apply to hundreds of affiliate merchants within their network. You can also have multiple websites within your account so if you are running multiple blogs (like we are!) you don’t have to hassle with different affiliate links and login information.
Their process for applying for affiliate programs is simple and easy to use! We highly recommend ShareASale as one of the first affiliate programs to get started with!
Social Share Buttons
To make it very easy for your readers to share your content install plugins that will allow readers to share content directly from your blog. Two ways to provide social sharing icons is by using either the Social Warfare plugin as low as $29/ year or by using Tasty Pins also $29/year.
MiloTree
You can also install the MiloTree popup. This is a small popup that shows up on each blog post encouraging your readers to follow you on either Instagram or Pinterest. It’s an easy no-stress way to passively gather followers. Despite being a search and discovery engine, Pinterest followers actually do actually matter!
Instacart
This might seem like it doesn’t belong on a list of Pro Blogger Tools, but just hear me out. If you are a new, or even an experienced blogger, you know your time is short but your to-do list is LONG! Just think if you could spend every minute you normally spend grocery shopping on your blog instead.
I switched over to using Instacart and vowed that the time I would normally spend grocery shopping would now be spent on my blog. Guess what? In 1 month’s time I was finally able to finish my ebook with that extra time. Anytime tools or products will help you become more efficient or save time will be time well spent.
I have been using almost all of these tools since day one and I do not think I could live without them. Your time is valuable so it is important that you find ways to maximize your efficiency when it comes to your business and blog. If you have any tools that you recommend or feel that you can’t live without then I would love to hear about them in the comments!
Hi! I'm Meghan!
I am all about that blog life! I started my first blog in 2018! When it became a surprising success I decided that I wanted to teach others hustlers how to do the same! And with that inspiration, this second blog was born!
I am passionate about helping other women find a side hustle that can bring in extra income, help you quit your jobs, stay home with your babies or travel the world! Whatever your goals, I am here for YOU!
Recent Comments