Blogging resources you need!

This post contains affiliate links*

When starting blogging, it can be so overwhelming, you’ll see courses, plugins and apps that you “need”. I’ve trialled and tested so many, and I’ve cut them down to ones you really do need. If you’re unsure of what resources you need then read on!

Traffic

Traffic can make you feel so much better about your blog. It’s not everything though! The main ways to drive traffic to your blog is; Pinterest, SEO and Twitter threads. Usually in that order too although it varies between blogs. For me, this is the case.

Big Pin Energy E-Book by Emily Dyson*

Emily knows about Pinterest. She drives hundreds of thousands of views to both of her blogs through Pinterest.

In her helpful guide, she tells you how to grow your Pinterest, design viral pins and use keywords correctly to help your pins get seen more.

Not only that, but she guides you on how to find Trending ideas to write about that are therefore sure to be popular on Pinterest. Since implementing Emily’s tips, I’ve generated over 150,000 views to my blog from Pinterest alone!

You may get eager once reading this guide and want to spend all your time on Pinterest, but doing this may lead to getting marked as spam or even having your account suspended! Don’t panic if this happens though! Emily’s course also gives you tips on how to prevent it and what to do if it does unfortunately happen! I’ve not seen another Pinterest course that does that!

SEO for bloggers e-book*

Like Emily knows about Pinterest, Nele is a pro when it comes to SEO. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation. This is what’s going to help your blog posts rank on Google.

When starting my blog, I had no idea about SEO. After purchasing the course, I’ve had 3 posts rank 1st on Google and several on the first page. This is would never have been possible if it had not of been for the tips in this book.

Last year, I received 315 search engine results. This year, at the time of writing (June 2020), I’ve received 4219! That’s a 1339% increase! If you want to make blogging a business, you need to be implementing SEO and I whole-heartedly recommend this one.

Twitter threads

Hands down, this is the best way for comments and likes to your blog. However, you can’t expect mass traffic from this method like Pinterest. I think the highest amount of views I got in one day from twitter alone was 100. It is a good amount of views but it took a lot of commenting on other people’s posts. Yes it’s nice to support other bloggers but it does consume a lot of time.

My favourite accounts for twitter threats are:

The Clique

Blogger’s Hut

and TRJ For Bloggers

These accounts get the most engagement from what I’ve seen but there are others out there too. Other blogger’s also do daily comment threads which people participate in too!

Pinterest Graphics

To do well on Pinterest, you need pins that look good. I currently do well on my Pinterest and I’ve written a post on how I made Pinterest my top traffic source. A big part of succeeding on Pinterest is how your pins look, and how you’re displaying your content. If you’re a beauty blogger who wants to attract a female audience, you may use pink as your brand colour on your pins. If you’re a food blogger that wants to appeal to all genders, you’d use primary colours that aren’t stereotypically tied to certain groups of people. These resources are great to cater to all your graphic needs!

Canva

Canva is undoubtedly the most popular Pinterest graphic programme which is why it’s a resource you need. Canva allows you to customise your pins however you want and really define your brand. It’s simple to use and creates pin dimensions that are the recommended size. Although Canva is a great tool for blogging, you can also use it for an abundance of other things such as writing ebooks, business cards and logos!

Here is an example of a pin that I made of Canva that fits well with my branding:

Not only does it fit into my Pinterest feed, but it also aligns with the branding of my blog too.

Stock photos

I used to be a big believer of using my own photos in my pins to make them unique but then I discovered how much better and professional they looked when I used stock photos and I got hooked!

You can get stock photos for free on sites such as:

Unsplash

Pexels

and Pixabay

These are great free sites however the photos can be generic and overused. I also find that the beauty themed photos don’t find the aesthetic I’m looking for so I have a paid subscription with Ivory Mix.*

The photos from this site are beautiful and I use them in my pins to make them prettier. You can have a one year membership or a 3 month membership. I have the 3 month one and you get so much included! You get Instagram captions, Pinterest templates to use on Canva, over 4000 stock photos and free workshops!

Get your Ivory Mix membership here!*

Pinterest templates

This will save you so much time. Choose 5-10 templates that you’ll keep reusing for your graphics. You can make them yourself, use Canva’s, pay for them or get free opt-in templates that you can find on Pinterest. Each time, change the photos, fonts or title so Pinterest doesn’t count your pins as spam. It used to take me an hour to make 20 pins, now it takes me just 20 minutes! See why this is a resource you need?

Monetisation

This is mostly for bloggers who want to do it as a full-time job or want some extra income. There are 2 main ways to earn money from your blog and I’ll be talking about them in this section.

Affiliate links

As you may have read at the top, I’ve used affiliate links in this post. These are links unique to you, you earn a small amount of commission from every purchase made through your link. Luckily, this is at no extra cost to the customer. Some commission rates can be high depending on what you’re promoting. Generally, you earn more by promoting ebooks, like the ones I spoke about above. It also helps to join an affiliate programme. Many love the Amazon affiliate programme yet I had no luck with that so instead I joined ShopStyleCollective. This is perfect for me as it’s focused mostly on beauty and fashion which is what my blog is focused on.

If you’re new to affiliate sales or you struggle to make them, I highly recommend the new ebook* by my friend Kayleigh. She makes it simple and tells you exactly how to get those sales!

Ads

Ads get you some passive income with minimal effort. I’ve had Google Adsense on my blog for a while now and it earns me around £100 every 3 months. It’s not a lot but it’s still some extra. I’m currently in the process of being accepted by Mediavine which will helpfully earn me more. To apply to Mediavine, you need to reach 50,000 monthly sessions, before it was 25,000. I applied when it was 25,000 so I can be accepted on those views. There are definitely other ad options although I haven’t looked into those too much.

Email subscription list

I use Mailerlite to collect subscribers for my blog. It’s useful to have a platform like this as it allows you can create opt-in freebie options. I have a Pinterest checklist and a bullet journal checklist that people can opt-in and get for free. This adds them to your subscribers and if used correctly, can get you more blog views. I send out weekly emails and link back to some blog posts. It also allows you to be more personal with your audience and let’s them get to know you more.

People also use mailchimp which is very similar too. Find a platform that works for you and grow that list! It’s a very valuable resource. Those are your audience, no one can steal them from you.

To grow my list, I used tips from The Complete Email Marketing Bundle*. It provides valuable information and my list has grown substantially since implementing this advice!

These are the main resources I feel you need as a blogger! Any more suggestions? Let us know!